Comparsion of different hESC line derived neural progenitor cells (hNPCs)

The self-renewal and differentiation potential of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) suggests that hESCs could be used for regenerative medicine, especially for restoring neuronal functions in brain diseases. However, the functional properties of neurons derived from hESC are largely unknown. Moreover, since hESCs were derived under diverse conditions, the possibility arises that neurons derived from different hESC lines exhibit distinct properties, but this possibility remains unexplored. To address these issues, we developed a protocol that allows step-wise generation from hESCs of ~70-80% pure human neurons that form spontaneously active synaptic networks in culture. Comparison of neurons derived from the well-characterized HSF1 and HSF6 hESC lines revealed that HSF1- but not HSF6-derived neurons exhibit forebrain properties. Accordingly, HSF1-derived neurons initially form primarily GABAergic synaptic networks, whereas HSF6-derived neurons initially form glutamatergic networks. microRNA profiling revealed significant expression differences between the two hESC lines, suggesting that microRNAs may influence their distinct differentiation properties. These observations indicate that although both HSF1 and HSF6 hESCs differentiate into functional neurons, the two hESC lines exhibit distinct differentiation potentials, suggesting that they are pre-programmed. Information on hESC line-specific differentiation biases is crucial for neural stem cell therapy and establishment of novel disease models using hESCs. Keywords: Gene expression profiling We directly compared the transcriptome of hNPCs derived from HSF-1 and HSF-6 hESC lines under two different neural induction conditions (embryonic body formation in presence of caudalizing factors (retinoic acid and bFGF) and monolayer conversion in presence of BMP signaling inhibitor (Noggin)). Since HSF6 hESC cannot undergo efficient neural differentiation without caudalizing factors, we cannot obtain RNA samples for HSF6 (Noggin). In summary, consistent with our immunostaining results, HSF1 hNPCs display more forebrain properties as compared to HSF6 hNPCs, indicated by expression of multiple forebrain specific markers. Conversely, HSF6 hNPCs show regional identity towards posterior central nervous system.