Research Perspective Volume 4, Issue 6 pp 393—401

Figure 2. (A) Mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) fail to reprogram into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in the presence of the DRP1 inhibitor mdivi-1.

Left. Early passage MEFs infected with retroviruses encoding OCT4, SOX2, and KLF4 (OSK) were cultured in ES medium in the continuous presence or absence of mdivi-1 (10 and 50 μmol/L), as specified. Top. The numbers of AP+ colonies were counted 14 days after the initial infection and were plotted for each condition relative to the controls (x-fold), as specified. The error bars indicate the SEM. Right. Phase-contrast microphotographs of representative MEFs transduced with OSK at different time-points during the reprogramming process in the absence or presence of continuous mdivi-1 (50 μmol/L). The arrows indicate emerging iPSC-like colonies. (B) DRP1 inactivation impedes early stem cell genetic reprogram-ming. The early passage MEFs infected with retroviruses encoding the OSK stemness factors were grown in ES medium in the intermittent presence or absence of mdivi-1 (50 μmol/L), as specified. Left. The numbers of AP+ colonies were counted 14 days after the initial infection and are plotted for each condition relative to the controls (x-fold), as specified. The error bars indicate the SEM. Right. Phase-contrast microphotographs of representative MEFs transduced with OSK at different time-points during the reprogramming process in the absence or presence of intermittent mdivi-1 (50 μmol/L), as specified. Arrows indicate emerging iPSC-like colonies.