title: Neural Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells for Nontherapeutic Applications: Toxicology, Pharmacology, and In Vitro Disease Modeling.
abstract: Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) derived from either blastocyst stage embryos (hESCs) or reprogrammed somatic cells (iPSCs) can provide an abundant source of human neuronal lineages that were previously sourced from human cadavers, abortuses, and discarded surgical waste. In addition to the well-known potential therapeutic application of these cells in regenerative medicine, these are also various promising nontherapeutic applications in toxicological and pharmacological screening of neuroactive compounds, as well as for in vitro modeling of neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders. Compared to alternative research models based on laboratory animals and immortalized cancer-derived human neural cell lines, neuronal cells differentiated from hPSCs possess the advantages of species specificity together with genetic and physiological normality, which could more closely recapitulate in vivo conditions within the human central nervous system. This review critically examines the various potential nontherapeutic applications of hPSC-derived neuronal lineages and gives a brief overview of differentiation protocols utilized to generate these cells from hESCs and iPSCs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science & Technology, Sunway University, No. 5 Jalan Universiti, 47500 Bandar Sunway, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: May Shin
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Yap
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science & Technology, Sunway University, No. 5 Jalan Universiti, 47500 Bandar Sunway, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Kavitha R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Nathan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science & Technology, Sunway University, No. 5 Jalan Universiti, 47500 Bandar Sunway, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Yin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yeo
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Lee Wei
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6993-0586
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science & Technology, Sunway University, No. 5 Jalan Universiti, 47500 Bandar Sunway, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Chit Laa
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Poh
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical & Life Sciences, Nanyang Polytechnic, 180 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 8, Singapore 569830.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Richards
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science & Technology, Sunway University, No. 5 Jalan Universiti, 47500 Bandar Sunway, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Wei Ling
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine, Monash University Malaysia, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, 47500 Bandar Sunway, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Iekhsan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Othman
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science & Technology, Sunway University, No. 5 Jalan Universiti, 47500 Bandar Sunway, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia ; Department of Physiology, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong ; Department of Biosystems Science & Engineering (D-BSSE), ETH-Zurich, Mattenstrasse 26, 4058 Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Boon Chin
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Heng