Culturing ESCs requires a specialized environment that includes a feeder layer of mouse embryonic fibroblasts or a defined medium that supports stem cell growth. The medium typically contains growth factors such as leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) for mouse ESCs or basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) for human ESCs. Maintaining pluripotency is vital, and this is monitored by the expression of specific markers such as Oct4, Sox2, and Nanog.
