Figure 1: RA promotes ESC spontaneous differentiation. (A) Schematic representation of the experimental procedure used to test the ESC differentiation potential after a single pulse stimulation by RA. (B) FACS profiles of the atRA and DMSO treated cells analyzed for expression of GFP at day 5. Data are representative of three independent experiments. (C) Spontaneous differentiation of ESC as EBs is down-regulated by the RAR antagonist CD2665. ESC were let to differentiate spontaneously as embryoid bodies for 2, 3 or 4 days, in presence of 1 μM CD2665 or vehicle alone (DMSO). Differentiation was evaluated by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) analysis of the early differentiation marker Brachyury. Values are normalized to β-Actin expression and represented as fold change compared with DMSO-treated EBs at day 3 after formation. Data represent average ±SD of three independent experiments. *, P<0.05 (n = 3).