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Activin/Nodal Inhibition Alone Accelerates Highly Efficient Neural Conversion from Human Embryonic Stem Cells and Imposes a Caudal Positional Identity

Patani, R; Compston, A; Puddifoot, CA; Wyllie, DJ; Hardingham, GE; Allen, ND; Chandran, S; (2009) Activin/Nodal Inhibition Alone Accelerates Highly Efficient Neural Conversion from Human Embryonic Stem Cells and Imposes a Caudal Positional Identity. PLoS One , 4 (10) , Article e7327. 10.1371/journal.pone.0007327. Green open access

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Abstract

Background Neural conversion from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) has been demonstrated in a variety of systems including chemically defined suspension culture, not requiring extrinsic signals, as well as in an adherent culture method that involves dual SMAD inhibition using Noggin and SB431542 (an inhibitor of activin/nodal signaling). Previous studies have also determined a role for activin/nodal signaling in development of the neural plate and anterior fate specification. We therefore sought to investigate the independent influence of SB431542 both on neural commitment of hESCs and positional identity of derived neural progenitors in chemically defined substrate-free conditions. Methodology/Principal Findings We show that in non-adherent culture conditions, treatment with SB431542 alone for 8 days is sufficient for highly efficient and accelerated neural conversion from hESCs with negligible mesendodermal, epidermal or trophectodermal contamination. In addition the resulting neural progenitor population has a predominantly caudal identity compared to the more anterior positional fate of non-SB431542 treated cultures. Finally we demonstrate that resulting neurons are electro-physiologically competent. Conclusions This study provides a platform for the efficient generation of caudal neural progenitors under defined conditions for experimental study.

Type: Article
Title: Activin/Nodal Inhibition Alone Accelerates Highly Efficient Neural Conversion from Human Embryonic Stem Cells and Imposes a Caudal Positional Identity
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007327
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0007327
Language: English
Additional information: © 2009 Patani et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. PMCID: PMC2752165
Keywords: Activins, Benzamides, Body Patterning, Cell Adhesion, Cell Differentiation, Cell Line, Dioxoles, Embryonic Stem Cells, Humans, Immunohistochemistry, Neurons, Nodal Protein, Patch-Clamp Techniques, Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction, Signal Transduction, Stem Cells
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology > Department of Neuromuscular Diseases
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1408662
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