title: New medium used in the differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells to retinal cells is comparable to fetal human eye tissue.
abstract: Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have the potential to differentiate along the retinal lineage. However, most induction systems are dependent on multiple small molecular compounds such as Dkk-1, Lefty-A, and retinoic acid. In the present study, we efficiently differentiated hPSCs into retinal cells using a retinal differentiation medium (RDM) without the use of small molecular compounds. This novel differentiation system recapitulates retinal morphogenesis in humans, i.e. hPSCs gradually differentiate into optic vesicle-shaped spheres, followed by optic cup-shaped spheres and, lastly, retinal progenitor cells. Furthermore, at different stages, hPSC-derived retinal cells mirror the transcription factor expression profiles seen in their counterparts during human embryogenesis. Most importantly, hinge epithelium was found between the hPSC-derived neural retina (NR) and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). These data suggest that our culture system provides a new method for generating hPSC-derived retinal cells that, for the first time, might be used in human transplantation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Xiaobing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Cong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Medical Center, Columbia University, New York City, NY 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Chongchong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Songtao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Dandan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Hurong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Honglei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China; Key Laboratory of Medical Imaging Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention of Shanghai, Shanghai 200032, China. Electronic address: gmzhou@shmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Guomin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D002454:Cell Differentiation; D003470:Culture Media; D006801:Humans; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D012160:Retina / Q000166:cytology* / Q000196:embryology
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media
keywords: Differentiation medium; Fetal human eye; Human pluripotent stem cell; Retina cell