ROLE OF RETINOIC ACID AND OXIDATIVE STRESS IN EMBRYONIC STEM-CELL DEATH AND NEURONAL DIFFERENTIATION

Embryonic stem (ES) cells are a suitable system to study events occurr ing during development, In the present work me show that the apoptotic program was activated in ES cells, either by simple removal of the re ducing agent 2-mercapthoethanol (2-ME), or by addition of all trans-re tinoic acid (ATRA) to embryoid bodies, In these two conditions, there was an increase in reactive oxygen species and antioxidants such as ca talase, superoxide dismutase or phenol prevented ATRA-induced cell dea th, Neuronal differentiation was observed when undifferentiated ES cel ls were treated with ATRA in the absence of serum and the presence of 2-ME.