The leukaemia inhibitory factor is a cytokine that exhibits pleiotropic activities in a wide range of cell types. There are evidences that leukaemia inhibitory factor-regulated signalling pathways are involved in cardiomyogesis and maintenance of cardiomyocytes. In the present work we studied the effect of leukaemia inhibitory factor on cardiomyogenesis of embryonic stem cells together with the role of serum-born factors. We showed that leukaemia inhibitory factor had an inhibitory effect during both the induction and progression phases of cardiomyogenesis of embryonic stem cells. The leukaemia inhibitory factor-mediated inhibition of cardiomyogenesis was abolished by inhibitors of STAT3 activity. These results suggest that leukaemia inhibitory factor- activated STAT3 is responsible for the inhibition of cardiomyogenesis in embryonic stem cells.

Institute of Experimental Biology Faculty of Science Masaryk University Brno Czech Republic

12-O-Tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate increases cardiomyogenesis through PKC/ERK signaling

Polyaniline cryogels: Biocompatibility of novel conducting macroporous material

The acceleration of cardiomyogenesis in embryonic stem cells in vitro by serum depletion does not increase the number of developed cardiomyocytes

Epigenetics and chromatin plasticity in embryonic stem cells

Differentiation-independent fluctuation of pluripotency-related transcription factors and other epigenetic markers in embryonic stem cell colonies