Expression of pluripotency markers in Arbas Cashmere goat hair follicle stem cells.

In our previous work, we found that the Inner Mongolia Arbas Cashmere goat hair follicle stem cells (gHFSCs) can be successfully differentiated into adipocyte, chondrocyte, and osteocyte lineages. In this study, we further examined the expression of the pluripotency and stemness markers Oct4, Nanog, Sox2, AKP, and TERT in gHFSCs by immunocytochemistry, flow cytometry, real-time PCR, and Western blot. Immunofluorescent staining showed that the gHFSCs were positive for all five markers. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) further analyzed the positive expression of Oct4, Nanog, and Sox2 in the gHFSCs. Compared with Arbas Cashmere goat adipose-derived stem cells (gADSCs) at the mRNA expression level, Oct4 was relatively highly expressed in gHFSCs, 41.36 times of the gADSCs, and Nanog was 5.61, AKP was 2.74, and TERT was 2.10 times, respectively (p < 0.01). Western blot indicated that all markers are expressed at the protein level in the gHFSCs. When compared with gADSCs, using α-tubulin as a reference protein, gray intensity analysis showed that the expression of Oct4, Nanog, AKP, and TERT were, respectively, 5.94, 10.78, 1.33, and 1.39 times of gADSCs. Additionally, mRNA and protein expression of Sox2 were detected in the gHFSCs but not in the gADSCs. The protein expression pattern of these markers was consistent with the mRNA results.