The authors thank members of the Renee Reijo Pera laboratory for help during development of this protocol and during preparation of this manuscript. This work is supported by California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) shared laboratory (CL-00518).

1. Preparation of Culture Media
<ol>
	<li>Prepare mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) medium by combining the following: 445 ml DMEM, 50 ml fetal bovine serum (FBS), and 5 ml 100x penicillin/ampicillin stock solution. Keep filter sterilized medium at 4 &#176;C for no more than 14 days.</li>
	<li>Prepare serum-containing hPSC culture medium by combining the following: 385 ml DMEM/F12, 100 ml knockout serum replacement (KSR), 5 ml 100x non-essential amino acid stock solution, 5 ml 100x penicillin/ampicillin stock solution, ...

<ol>
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P., Burbach, J. P. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=How+to+make+a+mesodiencephalic+dopaminergic+neuron.">How to make a mesodiencephalic dopaminergic neuron.</a> Nature Reviews. Neuroscience. 8, 21-32 (2007).</li><li>Wang, G., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Noggin+and+bFGF+cooperate+to+maintain+the+pluripotency+of+human+embryonic+stem+cells+in+the+absence+of+feeder+layers.">Noggin and bFGF cooperate to maintain the pluripotency of human embryonic stem cells in the absence of feeder layers.</a> Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. 330, 934-942 (2005).</li><li>Chen, J. K., Taipale, J., Young, K. E., Maiti, T., Beachy, P. 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Human pluripotent stem cells (including both hESCs and hiPSCs) can be differentiated in vitro to generate most, if not all, cell types of our body including DA neurons, which has been demonstrated in previous studies19. Here, based on knowledge from embryonic dopaminergic neuron development20 and published protocols from other laboratories14,15, we optimized the culture conditions for the generation of DA neurons from hESCs and hiPSCs. This protocol is efficient, reproducible and...

Dopaminergic (DA) neurons can be found in several brain regions, including the midbrain, hypothalamus, retina, and olfactory bulbs. The A9 DA neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) control behavior and movement by projecting to the striatum in the forebrain and forming the extrapyramidal motor system. Degeneration of A9 DA neurons leads to Parkinson&#8217;s disease (PD), which is the second most common human neurodegenerative disorder and currently incurable. Cell replacement therapy is one of the most promising strategies for the treatment of PD1, therefore, there has been a great interest in deriving A9 DA neurons from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), including both human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and the recent human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs).
Much research has tried to derive A9 DA neurons from hPSCs using various methods. The earliest reports all generated DA neurons through a neural rosette progenitor stage. By co-culturing with MS52 or PA63-5 stromal cells with or without external growth factors for 2-4 weeks, L. Studer and colleagues and three other groups successfully induced hESCs to produce neural rosettes. They then enriched these rosettes by mechanical dissection or enzymatic digestion for further differentiation. In other reports, researchers generated neural rosettes through embryoid body (EB) floating culture differentiation6-9. Later, researchers established a monolayer based differentiation method10,11, where they plated hESCs and hiPSCs on extra cellular matrix, added different growth factors in the culture to induce the differentiation of hPSCs to DA neurons, which mimics the in vivo embryonic DA neuron development. Although all these studies obtained tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-expressing cells with some characteristics of DA neurons, the entire differentiation process is time and labor consuming, generally inefficient, and more importantly, the A9 identity of these neurons were not demonstrated in most studies except the one with LMX1a ectopic expression12. Recently, a new floor plate (FP)-based protocol was developed13-16, in which the FP precursors with DA neuron potential were first generated by activation of the sonic hedgehog and canonical Wnt signaling pathways during the early stage of differentiation, and then these FP cells were further specified to DA neurons. Although this protocol is more efficient, there are still some problems; for example, the whole differentiation process takes long time (at least 35 days) and is feeder cell dependent15, or is EB dependent16 or the A9 identity was not demonstrated14.
Here, based on the knowledge from in vivo embryonic DA neuron development and other researchers&#8217; published results, we have optimized the culture conditions for the efficient generation of DA neurons from both hESCs and hiPSCs. We first generated FP precursor cells by activation of the canonical Wnt signaling with small molecule CHIR99021 and sonic hedgehog signaling with small molecules SAG and purmorphamine. These FP cells express FOXA2, LMX1a, CORIN, OTX2 and NESTIN. We then specified these FP cells to DA neurons with growth factors including BDNF, GDNF, etc. The generated DA neurons are of A9 cell type as they are positive for GIRK2 while negative for Calbindin17. This protocol is feeder cell or EB independent, highly efficient and reproducible. Using this protocol, one can derive DA neurons in less than 4 weeks from hESCs or hiPSCs of normal persons for cell transplantation study, or from hiPSCs of PD patients for in vitro modeling of PD or testing potential therapeutic agents for PD.

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="778">
	<tbody>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">Name of Material/ Equipment</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Company</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">Catalog Number</td>
			<td style="width:167px;">Comments/Description</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">DMEM</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Life Technologies</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">10569-010</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">FBS</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Life Technologies</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">26140</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">penicillin/ampicillin</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Life Technologies</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">15140-122</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">DMEM/F12</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Life Technologies</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">10565-018</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">KSR</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Life Technologies</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">10828-028</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">Non-essential amino acid</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Life Technologies</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">11140-050</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">b-mercaptoethanol</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Millipore</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">ES-007-E</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">bFGF</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">R&#38;D Systems</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">233-FB-025</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="41">
			<td height="41" style="height:41px;width:308px;">mTesR1</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">STEMCELL Technologies</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">5850</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">Collagenase IV</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Life Technologies</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">17104-019</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">Gelatin</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">G9391</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">N2 supplement</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Life Technologies</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">17502-048</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">B27 supplement</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Life Technologies</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">17504-044</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">Neurobasal</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Life Technologies</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">21103-049</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">Glutamax</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Life Technologies</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">35050-061</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">PBS</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Life Technologies</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">10010-023</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">Growth factor reduced matrigel</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">BD Biosciences</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">354230</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="20">
			<td height="20" style="height:20px;width:308px;">Accutase</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">MP Biomedicals</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">1000449</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="41">
			<td height="41" style="height:41px;width:308px;">Thiazovivin</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Santa Cruz Biotechnology</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">sc-361380</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">SB431542</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Tocris Bioscience</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">1614</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">LDN-193189</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Stemgent</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">04-0074</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">SAG</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">EMD Millipore</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">566660-1MG</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="41">
			<td height="41" style="height:41px;width:308px;">Purmorphamine</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Santa Cruz Biotechnology</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">sc-202785</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">FGF8b</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">R&#38;D Systems</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">423-F8-025</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">CHIR99021</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Cellagen Technology</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">C2447-2s</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">BDNF</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">R&#38;D Systems</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">248-BD-025</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">GDNF</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">R&#38;D Systems</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">212-GD-010</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">TGF-beta3</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">R&#38;D Systems</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">243-B3-002</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">Ascorbic acid</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">A4034</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">cAMP</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">D0627</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="41">
			<td height="41" style="height:41px;width:308px;">Mouse anti human NESTIN antibody</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Santa Cruz Biotechnology</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">sc-23927</td>
			<td style="width:167px;">1/1000 dilution</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">Rabbit anti human OTX2 antibody</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Millipore</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">AB9566</td>
			<td style="width:167px;">1/2000 dilutiion</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">Goat anti human FOXA2 antibody</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">R&#38;D Systems</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">AF2400</td>
			<td style="width:167px;">1/200 dilution</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">rabbit anti human LMX1a antibody</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Millipore</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">AB10533</td>
			<td style="width:167px;">1/1000 dilution</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">Rabbit anti human TH antibody</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Pel Freez</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">P40101</td>
			<td style="width:167px;">1/500 dilution</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">Chicken anti human TH antibody</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Millipore</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">AB9702</td>
			<td style="width:167px;">1/500 dilution</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">Mouse anti human TUJ1 antibody</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Covance</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">MMS-435P</td>
			<td style="width:167px;">1/2000 dilution</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">Rabbit anti human GIRK2 antibody</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Abcam</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">ab30738</td>
			<td style="width:167px;">1/300 dilution</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">Rabbit anti human Calbindin antibody</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Abcam</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">ab25085</td>
			<td style="width:167px;">1/400 dilution</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:308px;">Centrifuge</td>
			<td style="width:184px;">Eppendorf</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">5804</td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

directed dopaminergic neuron differentiation from human pluripotent stem cells

Dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (also known as A9 DA neurons) are the specific cell type that is lost in Parkinson&#8217;s disease (PD). There is great interest in deriving A9 DA neurons from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) for regenerative cell replacement therapy for PD. During neural development, A9 DA neurons originate from the floor plate (FP) precursors located at the ventral midline of the central nervous system. Here, we optimized the culture conditions for the stepwise differentiation of hPSCs to A9 DA neurons, which mimics embryonic DA neuron development. In our protocol, we first describe the efficient generation of FP precursor cells from hPSCs using a small molecule method, and then convert the FP cells to A9 DA neurons, which could be maintained in vitro for several months. This efficient, repeatable and controllable protocol works well in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) from normal persons and PD patients, in which one could derive A9 DA neurons to perform in vitro disease modeling and drug screening and in vivo cell transplantation therapy for PD.

An overview of the differentiation protocol is shown in Figure 1.&#160;The efficiency of the differentiation protocol presented here relies upon the status of the starting cells. Therefore, it is critical to make sure that, first one removes all the differentiated colonies before dissociating hPSCs into single cells for differentiation, and second, one depletes most, if not all, the MEF feeder cells by incubating the cells on gelatin-coated plates for 30 min, and third, one plates the hPSC single cells a...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Directed Dopaminergic Neuron Differentiation from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells at JoVE.com

Directed Dopaminergic Neuron Differentiation from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

We, based on knowledge from developmental biology and published research, developed an optimized protocol to efficiently generate A9 midbrain dopaminergic neurons from both human embryonic stem cells and human induced pluripotent stem cells, which would be useful for disease modeling and cell replacement therapy for Parkinson&#8217;s disease.

Dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta  (also known as A9 DA neurons) are the specific cell type that is lost in ...

directed-dopaminergic-neuron-differentiation-from-human-pluripotent

Research

JoVE Journal

Neuroscience

16.3K vistas.  Stanford University School of Medicine. We, based on knowledge from developmental biology and published research, developed an optimized protocol to efficiently generate A9 midbrain dopaminergic neurons from both human embryonic stem cells and human induced pluripotent stem cells, which would be useful for disease modeling and cell replacement therapy for Parkinson’s disease.