title: Generation of motor neurons by coculture of retinoic acid-pretreated embryonic stem cells with chicken notochords.
abstract: Understanding neuroectoderm formation and its subsequent diversification to functional neural subtypes remains elusive. We have shown here for the first time that embryonic stem cells (ESCs) can differentiate into neurons and motor neurons (MNs) by using a coculture embryonic notochord model in vitro. Mouse ESCs were induced to form neural precursors via timed exposure to retinoic acid (RA) using the 4-/4+ RA protocol. These cells were then cocultured with alginate bead-encapsulated notochords isolated from Hamburger and Hamilton stage 6-10 chick embryos. The use of notochord alone was not able to induce neural differentiation from ESCs, and, therefore, notochord does not possess neural inducing activity. Hence, the most successful neuronal cells and MN differentiation was only observed following the coculture of RA-pretreated ESCs with notochord. This resulted in a significantly greater number of cells expressing microtubule-associated protein-2 (MAP2), HB9, choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and MN-specific genes. While further characterization of these differentiated cells will be essential before transplantation studies commence, these data illustrate the effectiveness of embryonic notochord coculture in providing valuable molecular cues for directed differentiation of ESCs toward an MN lineage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Stem Cells, Cell Science Research Center, Royan Institute, ACECR, Esfahan Campus, Esfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Anjomshoa
authors.forename: Khadijeh
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Karbalaie
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mardani
authors.forename: Shahnaz
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Razavi
authors.forename: Somayeh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanhaei
authors.forename: Mohammad Hossein
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Nasr-Esfahani
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Baharvand
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D002645:Chickens; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000187:drug effects; D051379:Mice; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects*; D009672:Notochord / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects*; D014212:Tretinoin / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D014212:Tretinoin