Saman Hosseinkhani - Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
Parisa Ghiasi - Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
Shiva Akbari-birgani - Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
Hossein Baharvand - Department of Stem Cells and Developmental Biology, Cell Science Research Center, Royan Institute for Stem Cell Biology andTechnology, ACECR, Tehran, Iran

We aimed to investigate whether mitochondrial apoptosis andspecification employ a common pathway due to various evidence thatindicates that the differentiation and apoptosis might share commonfeatures. Split luciferase complementary assay showed that delay inapoptosome complex formation contributes to mouse embryonic stemcells cardiogenic differentiation. The contribution of apoptosis hallmarksto human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) cardiogenic differentiationhas also shown. Our results indicate the involvement of delayedmitochondrial apoptotic pathway as well as reversible mitochondrialouter layer disintegration in cardiogenic differentiation. We have alsofound that upon moderate doxorubicin apoptosis induction, hESCshowed differentiation hallmarks. Further investigation showed that lowlevel of Apaf-1 expression during early stages of neural differentiation canbe considered as a possible regulatory barrier by which differentiatingcells control cell death upon a rise in ROS (reactive oxygen species)elevation and cytochrome c release from mitochondria. We will showhow molecular approach in control of cell death can support humanembryonic stem cells during differentiation.

Embryonic stem cells; Cell differentiation; Apoptosis