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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Apr 26, 2015; 7(3): 605-617
Published online Apr 26, 2015. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v7.i3.605
Role of nitric oxide in the maintenance of pluripotency and regulation of the hypoxia response in stem cells
Amparo Beltran-Povea, Estefania Caballano-Infantes, Carmen Salguero-Aranda, Franz Martín, Bernat Soria, Francisco J Bedoya, Juan R Tejedo, Gladys M Cahuana
Amparo Beltran-Povea, Estefania Caballano-Infantes, Franz Martín, Francisco J Bedoya, Juan R Tejedo, Gladys M Cahuana, Andalusian Center for Molecular Biology and Regenerative Medicine-University Pablo de Olavide, CIBERDEM, RED-TERCEL, 41092 Seville, Spain
Carmen Salguero-Aranda, Bernat Soria, Andalusian Center for Molecular Biology and Regenerative Medicine (CABIMER) -Fundación Progreso y Salud, CIBERDEM, RED-TERCEL, 41092 Seville, Spain
Author contributions: All authors contributed to this manuscript.
Supported by Grants from Consejería de Igualdad, Salud y Politicas Sociales, Junta de Andalucía, No. PI105/2010; and Consejería de Economía, Innovación, Ciencia y Empleo, Junta de Andalucía, No. CTS-7127/2011 (to Bedoya FJ); Consejería de Igualdad, Salud y Políticas Sociales, Junta de Andalucía, ISCIII co-funded by Fondos FEDER (RED TERCEL), No. RD06/0010/0025, RD12/0019/0028 and PI10/00964; Consejería de Economía, Innovación, Ciencia y Empleo, No. P10.CTS.6505; and the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs (Advanced Therapies Program Grant TRA-120) (to Soria B); Consejería de Igualdad, Salud y Políticas Sociales, No. PI0022/2008; and Consejería de Economía, Innovación, Ciencia y Empleo, Junta de Andalucía (PAI, BIO311) (to Martín F); Servicio Andaluz de Salud (SAS 11245) and Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad-Secretaría de Estado de Investigación Desarrollo e Innovación, No. IPT-2011-1615-900000 (to Tejedo JR).
Conflict-of-interest: Gladys M Cahuana and all co-authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Gladys M Cahuana, PhD, Andalusian Center for Molecular Biology and Regenerative Medicine-University Pablo de Olavide, Av. Américo Vespucio s/n-Edif, CABIMER, Parque Científico y Tecnológico Cartuja 93, 41092 Seville, Spain. gmcahmac@upo.es
Telephone: +34-954-467840 Fax: +34-954-461664
Received: July 30, 2014
Peer-review started: July 30, 2014
First decision: September 18, 2014
Revised: November 13, 2014
Accepted: December 16, 2014
Article in press: December 17, 2014
Published online: April 26, 2015
Processing time: 266 Days and 17.3 Hours
Abstract

Stem cell pluripotency and differentiation are global processes regulated by several pathways that have been studied intensively over recent years. Nitric oxide (NO) is an important molecule that affects gene expression at the level of transcription and translation and regulates cell survival and proliferation in diverse cell types. In embryonic stem cells NO has a dual role, controlling differentiation and survival, but the molecular mechanisms by which it modulates these functions are not completely defined. NO is a physiological regulator of cell respiration through the inhibition of cytochrome c oxidase. Many researchers have been examining the role that NO plays in other aspects of metabolism such as the cellular bioenergetics state, the hypoxia response and the relationship of these areas to stem cell stemness.

Keywords: Pluripotency; Differentiation; Nitric oxide; Metabolism; Hypoxia; Stem cell

Core tip: Increasing research interest has focused on the role of nitric oxide (NO) in regulating many physiological functions such as metabolism, the hypoxia response, pluripotency, and stem cell differentiation. NO has been proven to act as a powerful agent for promoting the maintenance of cell pluripotency and survival, thus explaining how it can act as an alternative factor for the maintenance of certain cultured cell lines.