Pluripotent stem cells are undifferentiated cells, which can then evolve into all three germ layers (endoderm, ectoderm and mesoderm) but not to extraembryonic tissue. This means that they can differentiate into more than 200 types of cells. Their main characteristics is the ability to self-renew in vitro and their plasticity, as they do not lose the ability to differentiate even after multiple cell divisions. In vivo, pluripotency is a short transitional phase of the embryo, that then leads to further differentiation of cells and tissues. The cells regulate their pluripotency trough epigenetic modifications, miRNA interference, various transcriptional factors and small molecules.
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