Chuang JH, Tung LC, Lin Y. Neural differentiation from embryonic stem cells in vitro: An overview of the signaling pathways. World J Stem Cells 2015; 7(2): 437-447 [PMID: 25815127 DOI: 10.4252/wjsc.v7.i2.437]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Dr. Yenshou Lin, Associate Professor, Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, 88, Ting-Chou Road, Section 4, Taipei 116, Taiwan. yenshoulin@ntnu.edu.tw
Research Domain of This Article
Cell Biology
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Stem Cells. Mar 26, 2015; 7(2): 437-447 Published online Mar 26, 2015. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v7.i2.437
Neural differentiation from embryonic stem cells in vitro: An overview of the signaling pathways
Jen-Hua Chuang, Li-Chu Tung, Yenshou Lin
Jen-Hua Chuang, Li-Chu Tung, Yenshou Lin, Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei 116, Taiwan
Author contributions: Chuang JH, Tung LC and Lin Y conceived and wrote the manuscript; Lin Y revised and finalized the manuscript.
Supported by National Science Council, No. NSC101-2311-B-003-005 and NSC102-2311-B-003-003; National Taiwan Normal University, No. 103T3040B06, 103T3040C06 and 104T3040C06.
Conflict-of-interest: The authors have declared no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Yenshou Lin, Associate Professor, Department of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, 88, Ting-Chou Road, Section 4, Taipei 116, Taiwan. yenshoulin@ntnu.edu.tw
Telephone: +886-2-77346343 Fax: +886-2-29312904
Received: July 17, 2014 Peer-review started: July 18, 2014 First decision: August 28, 2014 Revised: September 12, 2014 Accepted: December 16, 2014 Article in press: December 16, 2014 Published online: March 26, 2015
Core Tip
Core tip: Neurons are derived from embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and have been a focus of research recently, particularly because of their application in regenerative medicine. Here we review and summarize the signaling pathways that have been reported to be involved in neuronal differentiation of ESCs, mainly in vitro. The inducers and pathways explored include retinoic acid, Wnt/β-catenin, transforming growth factor/bone morphogenetic protein, Notch, fibroblast growth factor, cytokine, Hedgehog, c-Jun N-terminal kinase/mitogen-activated protein kinase and others. Some miscellaneous factors are also explored. Elucidating these signals in detail should make a significant contribution to future progress in stem cell biology and should also accelerate the application of stem cells in translational medicine.
