If I theoretically extract a few embryonic stem cells from the embryo and cultured in vitro with enough nutrient to grow more cells. How many maximum of stem cells can I get? Do I need to add any compound to inhibit the differentiation progress?
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1$\begingroup$ Culturing stem cells (especially embryonic ones) is very tricky - that's why its so hard to clone mammals. Without a lot of care your cells will not survive or differentiate for that matter. $\endgroup$– NicolaiCommented Jun 24, 2017 at 16:21
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$\begingroup$ @Nicolai hi! thank you for your reply. If you know anything about this, could you please tell me about the parameters? What do I need to take care? The temperature, nutrients or anything else? Since I'm an engineer, I will create a robot with several sensors to monitor them for me. $\endgroup$– joeCommented Jun 25, 2017 at 2:33
1 Answer
Like I said in my comment stem cell culture is a very difficult process, and while people have been doing research on this for about two decades there is still a lot we don't know about stem cells. Additionally working with (human) stem cells can cause a lot of ethic problems and is therefore under strict regulations in most countries.
In principle stem cells will continue to divide until they get a signal o differentiate. In normal embryo development some cells start producing these signals at different stages, and the complete interaction of different signals allows the formation of the organism.
In cell culture one has to make sure that exactly the right signals (which are mostly growth factors) are present in the culture medium, since stem cells can easily die if they do not get any signals.
I don't have any detailed experience or knowledge in working stem cells, but a quick literature search turned up these two papers, which should provide you a good starting point. There's likely a lot more research out there you can look for.
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$\begingroup$ Hi! Thank you for those information. As a first glance at the article you provided and other information that I've found on the internet, it seems possible to grow a lot of stem cells. I still waiting for some answer from experienced researcher in stem cells to give me some more advice and information, thank you again! $\endgroup$– joeCommented Jun 25, 2017 at 6:44