Thalidomide induced early gene expression perturbations indicative of human embryopathy in mouse embryonic stem cells

To unravel the mechanisms of thalidomide developmental toxicity, we used microarrays to study transcriptomic changes induced by thalidomide during mouse embryonic stem cell (mESC) differentiation. C57BL/6 mESCs were allowed to differentiate spontaneously and global gene expression changes were studied using microarrays at at different time points after exposure to 0.25 mM thalidomide (THD). RNA of control smaples (unexposed) and THD-exposed samples was collected at 24, 48, 72 h post-exposure. Three replicates were included for each experimental condition.