Abstract: Objective The differentiation capability of human parthenogenetic embryonic stem cells (pESCs) and normal embryonic stem cells (nESCs) was compared to estimate whether the pluripotent potential of pESCs was equal to that of nESCs. Methods pESCs and nESCs were injected into the rear leg of mice with severe combined immunodeficiency disease (SCID) to form teratoma, which was then processed for histological analysis by HE staining; pESCs and nESCs were detached to grow as aggregates in suspension to form embryoid body (EB), which were collected for the analysis of the key genes expression related with the development of main organs from all three germ layers and trophoblast using RT-PCR. Further, pESCs and nESCs were induced to differentiate into trophoblasts and detected the human chorionic gonadotrophin-β(hCG-β) content in the culture medium by ELISA as well as the percentage of hCG-β positive cells by flow cytometry. Results pESCs and nESCs can differentiate into the cell types from three germ layers both EM>in vivo/EM> andEM>in vitro/EM> differentiation assay. pESCs and nESCs were able to form teratomas with a complex pattern of differentiation to three germ layers, such as neural epithelia, cartilage and glandular epithelium. The key genes related with the development of main organs from all three germ layers and tropoblast were expressed in day 5 and day 21 EB from pESCs and nESCs. pESCs can be induced to differentiate into trophoblasts and expressed hCG-β, but the content of hCG-β and the percentage of hCG-β positive cells were lower in pESCs than that in nESCs. Conclusion pESCs can differentiate into three germ layers and tropoblas

Key words: Embryonic stem cell, Parthenogenetic embryonic stem cell, Differentiation, Cell culture, Human