DMSO is a commonly used solvent in biological studies, as it is an amphipathic molecule soluble in both aqueous and organic media. For that reason, it is the vehicle of choice for several water-insoluble substances used in research. At the molecular and cellular level, DMSO is a hydrogen-bound disrupter, an intercellular electrical uncoupler, and a cryoprotectant, among other properties. Importantly, DMSO often has overlooked side effects. In stem cell research, the literature is scarce, but there are reports on the effect of DMSO in human embryoid body differentiation and on human pluripotent stem cell priming towards differentiation, via modulation of cell cycle. However, in mouse embryonic stem cell (mESC) culture, there is almost no available information. Taking into consideration the almost ubiquitous use of DMSO in experiments involving mESCs, we aimed to understand the effect of very low doses of DMSO (0.0001%-0.2%), usually used to introduce pharmacological inhibitors/modulators, in mESCs cultured in two different media (2i and FBS-based media). Our results show that in the E14Tg2a mESC line used in this study, even the smallest concentration of DMSO had minor effects on the total number of cells in serum-cultured mESCs. However, these effects could not be explained by alterations in cell cycle or apoptosis. Furthermore, DMSO did not affect pluripotency or differentiation potential. All things considered, and although control experiments should be carried out in each cell line that is used, it is reasonable to conclude that DMSO at the concentrations used here has a minimal effect on this particular mESC line.

中文翻译：

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DMSO对培养的小鼠胚胎干细胞（mESCs）多能性的影响

DMSO是生物学研究中常用的溶剂，因为它是可溶于水和有机介质的两亲性分子。因此，它是研究中使用的几种水不溶性物质的首选载体。在分子和细胞水平上，DMSO是除其他特性外的氢结合破坏剂，细胞间电解偶联剂和冷冻保护剂。重要的是，DMSO通常具有被忽略的副作用。在干细胞研究中，文献很少，但是有关于DMSO在人类胚状体分化中的作用以及通过调节细胞周期对人类多能干细胞致敏分化的报道。但是，在小鼠胚胎干细胞（mESC）培养中，几乎没有可用信息。考虑到在涉及mESC的实验中几乎普遍使用DMSO，我们旨在了解在两种不同培养基中培养的mESC中通常用于引入药理抑制剂/调节剂的极低剂量DMSO（0.0001％-0.2％）的作用（2i和基于FBS的媒体）。我们的结果表明，在这项研究中使用的E14Tg2a mESC品系中，即使最小浓度的DMSO对血清培养的mESC中的细胞总数也影响很小。但是，这些作用不能通过细胞周期或凋亡的改变来解释。此外，DMSO不会影响多能性或分化潜能。考虑了所有因素，尽管应该在使用的每个细胞系中进行对照实验，