Neural lineage differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells: Advances in disease modeling

Figure 1 Neural cell subtype differentiation from human pluripotent stem cells. The first step of neural cell differentiation is neural induction to generate neuroepithelial cells, usually by the dual SMAD inhibition method. Specific neural progenitors can be generated by tuning different signaling pathways such as Sonic Hedgehog, Wingless/integrated, retinoic acid, and bone morphogenetic protein. Neural progenitors can then be directed to become mature neurons through induction with neurotrophic factors such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor or derived into glial progenitors through treatment with the growth factors fibroblast growth factor 2 and epidermal growth factor. Glial progenitors can give rise to either astrocytes or oligodendrocytes. BDNF: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor; GDNF: Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor.