Studies Conducted at Tsinghua University on Totipotent Stem Cells Recently Reported (Induction of Mouse Totipotent Stem Cells By a Defined Chemical Cocktail).

A recent study conducted at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, has reported the successful induction of totipotent stem cells (TotiSCs) in mice using a defined chemical cocktail. TotiSCs are capable of producing all differentiated cells in both embryonic and extraembryonic tissues and can form an entire organism. The researchers used a combination of three small molecules to induce and maintain chemically induced totipotent stem cells (ciTotiSCs) that closely resembled mouse totipotent 2-cell embryo cells. The ciTotiSCs exhibited bidirectional developmental potentials and were able to produce both embryonic and extraembryonic cells in vitro and in teratoma. This research provides a defined in vitro system for manipulating and understanding the totipotent state and the development of multicellular organisms from non-germline cells. [Extracted from the article]