Mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) go through self-renewal in the existence of the cytokine leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF). LIF is added to the mouse stem cells culture medium, and its removal results in fast differentiation. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is one of the most used solvents in drug test. We exposed 4-day mESC cultures to different concentrations of DMSO (0.1%, 0.5%, 1.0%, and 2.0%) to identify the safest dose exhibiting efficacy as a solvent. mESCs grown under general pluripotency conditions in the absence of LIF were treated with DMSO. In addition, as a control for differentiation, mESCs were grown in the absence of LIF. DMSO upregulated the mRNA expression level of pluripotency markers. Moreover, DMSO reduced the mRNA expression levels of ectodermal marker (β-tubulin3), mesodermal marker (Hand1), and endodermal markers (Foxa2 and Sox17) in mESCs. These results indicate that DMSO treatment enhances the pluripotency and disrupts the differentiation of mESCs. We also show that members of the Tet oncogene family are critical to inhibiting the differentiation and methylation of mESCs. DMSO is appropriate to sustain the pluripotency of mESCs in the absence of LIF, and that mESCs can be sustained in an undifferentiated state using DMSO. Therefore, DMSO may, in part, function as a substitute for LIF.

中文翻译：

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二甲基亚砜对小鼠胚胎干细胞多能性和分化能力的影响。

小鼠胚胎干细胞（mESCs）在细胞因子白血病抑制因子（LIF）的存在下经历自我更新。LIF被添加到小鼠干细胞培养基中，其去除导致快速分化。二甲基亚砜（DMSO）是药物测试中最常用的溶剂之一。我们将4天的mESC培养物暴露于不同浓度的DMSO（0.1％，0.5％，1.0％和2.0％）中，以鉴定表现出作为溶剂功效的最安全剂量。在没有LIF的情况下，在一般多能性条件下生长的mESC用DMSO处理。另外，作为分化的对照，mESCs在没有LIF的情况下生长。DMSO上调了多能性标志物的mRNA表达水平。此外，DMSO降低了外胚层标记物（β-tubulin3），中胚层标记物（Hand1）的mRNA表达水平，和mESC中的内胚层标记（Foxa2和Sox17）。这些结果表明，DMSO处理增强了多能性并破坏了mESC的分化。我们还表明，Tet致癌基因家族的成员对于抑制mESC的分化和甲基化至关重要。DMSO适用于在没有LIF的情况下维持mESC的多能性，并且可以使用DMSO将mESC维持在未分化状态。因此，DMSO可以部分替代LIF。并且使用DMSO可以将mESC维持在未分化状态。因此，DMSO可以部分替代LIF。并且使用DMSO可以将mESC维持在未分化状态。因此，DMSO可以部分替代LIF。