| First Author | Li W | Year | 2011 |
| Journal | Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A | Volume | 108 |
| Issue | 20 | Pages | 8299-304 |
| PubMed ID | 21525408 | Mgi Jnum | J:172790 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5009056 | Doi | 10.1073/pnas.1014041108 |
| Citation | Li W, et al. (2011) Rapid induction and long-term self-renewal of primitive neural precursors from human embryonic stem cells by small molecule inhibitors. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 108(20):8299-304 |
| abstractText | Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) hold enormous promise for regenerative medicine. Typically, hESC-based applications would require their in vitro differentiation into a desirable homogenous cell population. A major challenge of the current hESC differentiation paradigm is the inability to effectively capture and, in the long-term, stably expand primitive lineage-specific stem/precursor cells that retain broad differentiation potential and, more importantly, developmental stage-specific differentiation propensity. Here, we report synergistic inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3), transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta), and Notch signaling pathways by small molecules can efficiently convert monolayer cultured hESCs into homogenous primitive neuroepithelium within 1 wk under chemically defined condition. These primitive neuroepithelia can stably self-renew in the presence of leukemia inhibitory factor, GSK3 inhibitor (CHIR99021), and TGF-beta receptor inhibitor (SB431542); retain high neurogenic potential and responsiveness to instructive neural patterning cues toward midbrain and hindbrain neuronal subtypes; and exhibit in vivo integration. Our work uniformly captures and maintains primitive neural stem cells from hESCs. |