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Chinese Livestock and Poultry Breeding ›› 2026, Vol. 22 ›› Issue (9): 47-54.doi: 10.19543/j.cnki.1673-4556.20260416.002cstr: 32418.14.j.cnki.1673-4556.20260416.002

• Basic Research and Application of Livestock and Poultry Stem Cells • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The establishment and application prospects of epiblast stem cells in ruminant livestock

Jinying Zhang1,2(), Fan Zhao1, xin Li3, Suying Cao1   

  1. 1. College of Animal Science and Technology, Beijing University of Agriculture, Beijing, 102206
    2. College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193
    3. Shijiazhuang Tianquan Pedigree Dairy Cattle Co. , Ltd. , Shijiazhuang, 050200, Hebei
  • Received:2025-11-19 Online:2026-09-26 Published:2026-09-10

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Abstract:

Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) hold broad prospects in clinical medicine and animal breeding. Cattle and sheep are important ruminant livestock in husbandry. In recent years, researchers have successfully established stable PSCs from cattle and sheep by analyzing the pluripotent mechanisms of early embryo development. The established PSCs maintain pluripotency of the epiblast and exhibit stem cell characteristic properties, and preserve genome stability during long-term passage. This article reviews the developmental features and key events of pre-implantation embryos in cattle and sheep, elucidating the mechanisms underlying early embryo cell fate determination and differentiation. It further delineates the pluripotency of epiblast transition from naive to formative and primed state, highlighting that WNT inhibition and FGF activation are crucial for derivation of stable formative and primed state PSCs. Nevertheless, naive PSCs capable of germline transmission have not yet been successfully established in livestock, representing a persistent bottleneck in the field. Finally, it provides perspectives on the applications of PSCs in basic research, construction of blastoid models, and breeding of superior livestock breeds, in order to provide a theoretical reference for the establishment and application of ruminant livestock stem cells.

Key words: Ruminant livestock, Embryo development, Epiblast, Pluripotent stem cells

CLC Number: 

  • S81

Fig. 1

Developmental process and embryonic morphological pattern diagram of early embryos in ruminant livestock before implantation Note: The figure was created using BioRender. Same for the following figures."

Table 1

Research progress in establishing stable bovine and sheep pluripotent stem cells"

畜种

Domestic animals

 胚胎发育时期Embryo development stage

培养基主要成分

Culture medium

 传代能力Passage ability

多能性基因表达情况

Pluripotent marker expression

 多能性状态Pluripotent state

胚胎嵌合能力

Chimera analyses

 参考文献References

牛

Bovine

 囊胚 CTFR培养基(mTeSR, FGF2, IWR1) >P50 AP, POU5F1, SOX2, NANOG Primed 未检测 [44]
早期囊胚 bEPSCM培养基(CHIR99021, WH-4-023, XAV939, LIF, Activin A) >P80 8 细胞/桑椹胚 胚内和胚外组织嵌合 [47]
胚盘 AFX培养基(Activin A, FGF2, XAV939) >P30 Primed 未检测 [46]
囊胚及胚盘 3i/LAF培养基(CHIR99021, IWR1, WH-4-023, human LIF, Activin A, FGF2) >P100 Formative 未检测 [14]

绵羊

Sheep

 囊胚 CTFR培养基(mTeSR, FGF2, IWR1) >P40 AP, POU5F1, SOX2 Primed 未检测 [45]
胚盘 AFX培养基(Activin A, FGF2, XAV939) >P30 AP, POU5F1, SOX2, NANOG Primed 未检测 [46]
囊胚 TePR培养基(mTeSR PLUS, IWR1) >100 8细胞/桑椹胚 未检测到 [49]
囊胚及胚盘 sfPSCs培养基 (CHIR99021, IWR1, A419259, IL6, sIL6R, Activin A, FGF2) >100 Formative 胎儿嵌合 [13]
胚盘 spPSCs培养基(Activin A, FGF2, IWR1) >100 Primed 未检测 [13]
牛、绵羊Bovine, Sheep 单倍体囊胚 FACE培养基(FGF2, Activin-A, CHIR99021, IWR1) >P80 AP, POU5F1, SOX2, OTX2 Formative 胎儿嵌合 [48]

Fig. 2

Application prospects of livestock pluripotent stem cells"

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