HUMAN INDUCED PLURIPOTENT STEM CELLS EXPRESS NEURAL PROGENITOR CELL GENE

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), a kind of pluripotent cells which derived from somatic cells through reprogramming, is an potential substitute of ES cells and become an ideal donor source of cell-based transplantation. A clinical application of human iPS cells would require the generation of donor cells for specific tissues and organs. Here we report the derivation of neural progenitor cells with differentiation potency from human iPS cells. After a 4(-)/4(+) 5 X 10(-7) M retinoic acid (RA) inducing period, iPS cells aggregates were plated for adherent culture. Neuroepithelial rosette construction appeared in 4 days after plating, these cells expressed neural progenitor cells gene and differentiated to beta-tubulin III positive neurons. Our results indicated that human iPS cells can differentiate toward neural progenitor cells in the presence of 5 X 10(-7) M RA. The results suggested that human iPS cell was a potential source of neural progenitor cells for repairing nervous system injury.