Name: derivation of highly purified cardiomyocytes from human induced pluripotent stem cells using small molecule-modulated differentiation and subsequent glucose starvation
Uploaded: 2015-03-18T15:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Derivation of Highly Purified Cardiomyocytes from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Using Small Molecule-modulated Differentiation and Subsequent Glucose S

This work was supported in part by the NIH/NHBI (U01 HL099776-5), the NIH Director&#8217;s New Innovator Award (DP2 OD004411-2), the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (RB3-05129), the American Heart Association (14GRNT18630016) and the Endowed Faculty Scholar Award from the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children and the Child Health Research Institute at Stanford (to SMW). We also acknowledge funding support from the American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship 13PRE15770000, and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program DGE-114747 (AS).

NOTE: Vendor information for all reagents used in this protocol has been listed in Table 1 and Materials List. All solutions and equipment coming into contact with cells must be sterile, and aseptic technique should be used accordingly. Perform all culture incubations in a humidified 37 &#176;C, 5% CO2 incubator unless otherwise specified. In this protocol, all differentiations are performed in 6-well plates, in which the hiPSCs are seeded. Following differentiation and purifi...

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M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Induced+pluripotent+stem+cell-derived+cardiomyocytes+for+cardiovascular+disease+modeling+and+drug+screening.">Induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes for cardiovascular disease modeling and drug screening.</a> Stem Cell Research &amp; Therapy. 4 (6), 150 (2013).</li><li>Kehat, I., 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=Human+embryonic+stem+cells+can+differentiate+into+myocytes+with+structural+and+functional+properties+of+cardiomyocytes.">Human embryonic stem cells can differentiate into myocytes with structural and functional properties of cardiomyocytes.</a> The Journal of Clinical Investigation. 108 (3), 407-414 (2001).</li><li>Zhang, J., 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=Functional+cardiomyocytes+derived+from+human+induced+pluripotent+stem+cells.">Functional cardiomyocytes derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells.</a> Circulation Research. 104 (4), e30-e41 (2009).</li><li>Kattman, S. 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Obtaining a large amount of highly purified hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes is critical for basic cardiac research as well as clinical and translational applications. Cardiac differentiation protocols have undergone tremendous improvements in recent years, transitioning from embryoid body-based methods utilizing cardiogenic growth factors2, to matrix sandwich methods12, and finally to small molecule-modulated and monolayer-based methods5. Of the aforementioned protocols, the protocol describ...

Primary human cardiomyocytes are difficult to obtain because of the requirement for invasive cardiac biopsies, difficulty in dissociating to single cells, and because of poor long-term cell survival in culture. Given this lack of primary human cardiomyocytes, patient-specific human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte (hiPSC-CM) technology has been regarded as a powerful alternative cardiomyocyte source for basic research as well as clinical and translational applications such as disease modeling and drug discovery1. Early efforts in differentiating pluripotent stem cells into cardiomyocytes employed differentiation protocols using embryoid bodies (EBs), but this method is inefficient in producing cardiomyocytes because often less than 25% of cells in an EB are beating cardiomyocytes2,3. Comparatively, a monolayer-based differentiation protocol using the cytokines activin A and BMP4 displayed a higher efficiency than EBs, but this protocol is still relatively inefficient, requires expensive growth factors, and only functions in a limited number of human pluripotent stem cell lines4. Recently, a highly efficient, hiPSC monolayer-based cardiomyocyte differentiation protocol was developed by modulating Wnt/&#946;-Catenin signaling5. These hiPSC-CMs express cardiac troponin T and alpha actinin, two sarcomeric proteins that are standard markers of cardiomyocytes6. The protocol describe here is an adaptation of this small molecule-based, feeder cell-free, monolayer differentiation method5,7. We are able to obtain beating cardiomyocytes from hiPSCs after 7-10 days (Figure 1). However, following a cardiomyocyte differentiation resulting in 50% beating cells, immunostaining consistently shows the existence of a population of non-cardiomyocytes that are negative for cardiomyocyte-specific markers such as cardiac-specific troponin T and alpha-actinin. To further purify cardiomyocytes and eliminate non-cardiomyocytes, heterogeneous differentiated cell populations were subjected to glucose starvation by treating them with an extremely low glucose culture medium for multiple days (Figure 2). This treatment selectively eliminates non-cardiomyocytes due to the ability of cardiomyocytes, but not non-cardiomyocytes, to metabolize lactate as the primary energy source in order to survive in a low glucose environment8. After this purification step, a 40% increase in the ratio of cardiomyocytes to non-cardiomyocytes is observed, (Figure 3, Figure 4) and these cells can be used for downstream gene expression analysis, disease modeling, and drug screening assays.

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="550">
	<tbody>
		<tr height="18">
			<td height="18" style="height:18px;width:207px;">Name</td>
			<td style="width:199px;">Company</td>
			<td style="width:145px;">Catalog number</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="18">
			<td height="18" style="height:18px;">Matrigel (9-12 mg/mL)</td>
			<td>BD Biosciences</td>
			<td>354277</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="18">
			<td height="18" style="height:18px;">RPMI media</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>11835055</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="18">
			<td height="18" style="height:18px;">Glucose free RPMI media</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>11879-020</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="18">
			<td height="18" style="height:18px;">B27 Minus Insulin</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>A1895601</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="18">
			<td height="18" style="height:18px;">B27 Supplement (w/ insulin)</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>17504-044</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="18">
			<td height="18" style="height:18px;">Pen-strep antibiotic</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>15140122</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="18">
			<td height="18" style="height:18px;">Fetal bovine serum</td>
			<td>BenchMark</td>
			<td>100-106</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="18">
			<td height="18" style="height:18px;">DMSO</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>D-2650</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="18">
			<td height="18" style="height:18px;">ROCK inhibitor Y-27632</td>
			<td>EMD Millipore</td>
			<td>688000</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="18">
			<td height="18" style="height:18px;">CHIR99021</td>
			<td>Thermo Fisher</td>
			<td>508306</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="18">
			<td height="18" style="height:18px;">IWR1</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>I0161</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="18">
			<td height="18" style="height:18px;">EDTA</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>15575-020</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="18">
			<td height="18" style="height:18px;">Accutase</td>
			<td>Millipore</td>
			<td>SCR005</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="18">
			<td height="18" style="height:18px;">Cell lifter</td>
			<td>Fisher</td>
			<td>08-100-240</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="18">
			<td height="18" style="height:18px;">Cryovial</td>
			<td>Fisher (NUNC tubes)</td>
			<td>375418</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="18">
			<td height="18" style="height:18px;">TrypLE Select Enzyme</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>12563-011</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

derivation of highly purified cardiomyocytes from human induced pluripotent stem cells using small molecule-modulated differentiation and subsequent glucose starvation

Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) have become an important cell source to address the lack of primary cardiomyocytes available for basic research and translational applications. To differentiate hiPSCs into cardiomyocytes, various protocols including embryoid body (EB)-based differentiation and growth factor induction have been developed. However, these protocols are inefficient and highly variable in their ability to generate purified cardiomyocytes. Recently, a small molecule-based protocol utilizing modulation of Wnt/&#946;-Catenin signaling was shown to promote cardiac differentiation with high efficiency. With this protocol, greater than 50%-60% of differentiated cells were cardiac troponin-positive cardiomyocytes were consistently observed. To further increase cardiomyocyte purity, the differentiated cells were subjected to glucose starvation to specifically eliminate non-cardiomyocytes based on the metabolic differences between cardiomyocytes and non-cardiomyocytes. Using this selection strategy, we consistently obtained a greater than 30% increase in the ratio of cardiomyocytes to non-cardiomyocytes in a population of differentiated cells. These highly purified cardiomyocytes should enhance the reliability of results from human iPSC-based in vitro disease modeling studies and drug screening assays.

The morphological changes during hiPSC differentiation.
The hiPSC cultured in feeder-free plates grew as flat, two-dimensional colonies. Upon reaching around 85% confluency, hiPSCs were treated with 6 &#181;M CHIR for differentiation (Figure 1A). Substantial amounts of cell death, a normal and common phenomenon, were observed after 24 hr of CHIR treatment. After two days of CHIR treatment, the hiPSCs continued to differentiate towards a mesodermal fate. In com...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Derivation of Highly Purified Cardiomyocytes from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Using Small Molecule-modulated Differentiation and Subsequent Glucose S

Derivation of Highly Purified Cardiomyocytes from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Using Small Molecule-modulated Differentiation and Subsequent Glucose Starvation

Here, we describe a robust protocol for human cardiomyocyte derivation that combines small molecule-modulated cardiac differentiation and glucose deprivation-mediated cardiomyocyte purification, enabling production of purified cardiomyocytes for the purposes of cardiovascular disease modeling and drug screening.

Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) have become an important cell source to address the lack of primary cardiomyocytes ...

derivation-highly-purified-cardiomyocytes-from-human-induced

Research

JoVE Journal

Developmental Biology

Three-dimensional Quantification of Dendritic Spines from Pyramidal Neurons Derived from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Dendritic spines are small protrusions that correspond to the post-synaptic compartments of excitatory synapses in the central nervous system. They are distributed along the dendrites. Their morphology is largely dependent on neuronal activity, and they are dynamic. Dendritic spines express glutamatergic receptors (AMPA and NMDA receptors) on their surface and at the levels of postsynaptic densities. Each spine allows the neuron to control its state and local activity independently. Spine morphologies have been extensively studied in glutamatergic pyramidal cells of the brain cortex, using both in vivo approaches and neuronal cultures obtained from rodent tissues. Neuropathological conditions can be associated to altered spine induction and maturation, as shown in rodent cultured neurons and one-dimensional quantitative analysis 1. The present study describes a protocol for the 3D quantitative analysis of spine morphologies using human cortical neurons derived from neural stem cells (late cortical progenitors). These cells were initially obtained from induced&#160;pluripotent stem cells. This protocol allows the analysis of spine morphologies at different culture periods, and with possible comparison between induced&#160;pluripotent stem cells obtained from control individuals with those obtained from patients with psychiatric diseases.

Dendritic spines of pyramidal neurons are the sites of most excitatory synapses in mammalian brain cortex. This method describes a 3D quantitative analysis of spine morphologies in human cortical pyramidal glutamatergic neurons derived from induced&#160;pluripotent stem cells.

Dendritic spines are small protrusions that correspond to the post-synaptic compartments of excitatory synapses in the central nervous system. They are ...

Feeder-free Derivation of Melanocytes from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) represent a platform to study human development in vitro under both normal and disease conditions. Researchers can direct the differentiation of hPSCs into the cell type of interest by manipulating the culture conditions to recapitulate signals seen during development. One such cell type is the melanocyte, a pigment-producing cell of neural crest (NC) origin responsible for protecting the skin against UV irradiation. This protocol presents an extension of a currently available in vitro Neural Crest differentiation protocol from hPSCs to further differentiate NC into fully pigmented melanocytes. Melanocyte precursors can be enriched from the Neural Crest protocol via a timed exposure to activators of WNT, BMP, and EDN3 signaling under dual-SMAD-inhibition conditions. The resultant melanocyte precursors are then purified and matured into fully pigmented melanocytes by culture in a selective medium. The resultant melanocytes are fully pigmented and stain appropriately for proteins characteristic of mature melanocytes.

This work describes an in vitro differentiation protocol to produce pigmented, mature melanocytes from human pluripotent stem cells via a neural crest and melanoblast intermediate stage using a feeder-free, 25 day protocol.

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) represent a platform to study human development in vitro under both normal and disease conditions. Researchers can ...

Differentiation of Atrial Cardiomyocytes from Pluripotent Stem Cells Using the BMP Antagonist Grem2

Protocols for generating populations of cardiomyocytes from pluripotent stem cells have been developed, but these generally yield cells of mixed phenotypes. Researchers interested in pursuing studies involving specific myocyte subtypes require a more directed differentiation approach. By treating mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells with Grem2, a secreted BMP antagonist that is necessary for atrial chamber formation in vivo, a large number of cardiac cells with an atrial phenotype can be generated. Use of the engineered Myh6-DSRed-Nuc pluripotent stem cell line allows for identification, selection, and purification of cardiomyocytes. In this protocol embryoid bodies are generated from Myh6-DSRed-Nuc cells using the hanging drop method and kept in suspension until differentiation day 4 (d4). At d4 cells are treated with Grem2 and plated onto gelatin coated plates. Between d8-d10 large contracting areas are observed in the cultures and continue to expand and mature through d14. Molecular, histological and electrophysiogical analyses indicate cells in Grem2-treated cells acquire atrial-like characteristics providing an in vitro model to study the biology of atrial cardiomyocytes and their response to various pharmacological agents.

Generating cardiomyocytes from pluripotent stem cells in vitro allows access to large amounts of cardiac tissue in vitro for basic science and clinical applications. This protocol uses the atrializing factor Grem2 to both increase the numbers of cardiomyocytes obtained and to generate cardiomyocytes with an atrial phenotype.

Protocols for generating populations of cardiomyocytes from pluripotent stem cells have been developed, but these generally yield cells of mixed ...

Large-Scale Production of Cardiomyocytes from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Using a Highly Reproducible Small Molecule-Based Differentiation Protocol

Maximizing the benefit of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) for research, disease modeling, pharmaceutical and clinical applications requires robust methods for the large-scale production of functional cell types, including cardiomyocytes. Here we demonstrate that the temporal manipulation of WNT, TGF-&#946;, and SHH signaling pathways leads to highly efficient cardiomyocyte differentiation of single-cell passaged hPSC lines in both static suspension and stirred suspension bioreactor systems. Employing this strategy resulted in ~ 100% beating spheroids, consistently containing &#62; 80% cardiac troponin T-positive cells after 15 days of culture, validated in multiple hPSC lines. We also report on a variation of this protocol for use with cell lines not currently adapted to single-cell passaging, the success of which has been verified in 42 hPSC lines. Cardiomyocytes generated using these protocols express lineage-specific markers and show expected electrophysiological functionalities. Our protocol presents a simple, efficient and robust platform for the large-scale production of human cardiomyocytes.

Here, we present a robust, fast and scalable cardiomyocyte differentiation protocol for human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). Cardiomyocytes derived using this large-scale method can provide sufficient cell numbers for their effective use in human cardiovascular disease modeling, high-throughput drug screening, and potentially clinical applications.

Maximizing the benefit of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) for research, disease modeling, pharmaceutical and clinical applications requires robust ...

Generation of Integration-free Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells from Human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells Using Episomal Vectors

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs) hold great promise for disease modeling and regenerative therapies. We previously reported the use of Episomal Vectors (EV) to generate integration-free iPSCs from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PB MNCs). The episomal vectors used are DNA plasmids incorporated with oriP and EBNA1 elements from the Epstein-Barr (EB) virus, which&#160;allow for replication and long-term retainment of plasmids in mammalian cells, respectively. With further optimization, thousands of iPSC colonies can be obtained from 1 mL of peripheral blood. Two critical factors for achieving high reprogramming efficiencies&#160;are: 1) the use of a 2A &#34;self-cleavage&#34; peptide to link OCT4 and SOX2, thus achieving equimolar expression of the two factors; 2) the use of two vectors to express MYC and KLF4 individually. Here we describe a step-by-step protocol for generating integration-free iPSCs from adult peripheral blood samples. The generated iPSCs are integration-free as residual episomal plasmids are undetectable after five passages. Although the reprogramming efficiency is comparable to that of Sendai Virus (SV) vectors, EV plasmids are considerably more economical than the commercially available SV vectors. This affordable EV reprogramming system holds potential for clinical applications in regenerative medicine and provides an approach for the direct reprogramming of PB MNCs to integration-free mesenchymal stem cells, neural stem cells, etc.

This protocol describes a detailed method for efficient generation of integration-free iPSCs from human adult peripheral blood cells. With the use of four oriP/EBNA-based episomal vectors to express the reprogramming factors, KLF4, MYC, BCL-XL, or OCT4 and SOX2, thousands of iPSC colonies can be obtained from 1 mL of peripheral blood.

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs) hold great promise for disease modeling and regenerative therapies. We previously reported the use of Episomal ...

Directed Differentiation of Primitive and Definitive Hematopoietic Progenitors from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

One of the major goals for regenerative medicine is the generation and maintenance of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) derived from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). Until recently, efforts to differentiate hPSCs into HSCs have predominantly generated hematopoietic progenitors that lack HSC potential, and instead resemble yolk sac hematopoiesis.&#160;These resulting hematopoietic progenitors may have limited utility for in vitro disease modeling of various adult hematopoietic disorders, particularly those of the lymphoid lineages. However, we have recently described methods to generate erythro-myelo-lymphoid multilineage definitive hematopoietic progenitors from hPSCs using a stage-specific directed differentiation protocol, which we outline here. Through enzymatic dissociation of hPSCs on basement membrane matrix-coated plasticware, embryoid bodies (EBs) are formed. EBs are differentiated to mesoderm by recombinant BMP4, which is subsequently specified to the definitive hematopoietic program by the GSK3&#946; inhibitor, CHIR99021. Alternatively, primitive hematopoiesis is specified by the PORCN inhibitor, IWP2. Hematopoiesis is further driven through the addition of recombinant VEGF and supportive hematopoietic cytokines. The resulting hematopoietic progenitors generated using this method have the potential to be used for disease and developmental modeling, in vitro.

Here, we present human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) culture protocols, used to differentiate hPSCs into CD34+ hematopoietic progenitors. This method uses stage-specific manipulation of canonical WNT signaling to specify cells exclusively to either the definitive or primitive hematopoietic program.

One of the major goals for regenerative medicine is the generation and maintenance of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) derived from human pluripotent stem ...

Differentiating Chondrocytes from Peripheral Blood-derived Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

In this study, we used peripheral blood cells (PBCs) as seed cells to produce chondrocytes via induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in an integration-free method. Following embryoid body (EB) formation and fibroblastic cell expansion, the iPSCs are induced for chondrogenic differentiation for 21 days under serum-free and xeno-free conditions. After chondrocyte induction, the phenotypes of the cells are evaluated by morphological, immunohistochemical, and biochemical analyses, as well as by the quantitative real-time PCR examination of chondrogenic differentiation markers. The chondrogenic pellets show positive alcian blue and toluidine blue staining. The immunohistochemistry of collagen II and X staining is also positive. The sulfated glycosaminoglycan (sGAG) content and the chondrogenic differentiation markers COLLAGEN 2 (COL2), COLLAGEN 10 (COL10), SOX9, and AGGRECAN are significantly upregulated in chondrogenic pellets compared to hiPSCs and fibroblastic cells. These results suggest that PBCs can be used as seed cells to generate iPSCs for cartilage repair, which is patient-specific and cost-effective.

We present a protocol to generate a chondrogenic lineage from human peripheral blood (PB) via induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) using an integration-free method, which includes embryoid body (EB) formation, fibroblastic cells expansion, and chondrogenic induction.

In this study, we used peripheral blood cells (PBCs) as seed cells to produce chondrocytes via induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in an ...

Integration Free Derivation of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Using Laminin 521 Matrix

Xeno-free and fully defined conditions are key parameters for robust and reproducible generation of homogenous human induced pluripotent stem (hiPS) cells. Maintenance of hiPS cells on feeder cells or undefined matrices are susceptible to batch variances, pathogenic contamination and risk of immunogenicity. Utilizing the defined recombinant human laminin 521 (LN-521) matrix in combination with xeno-free and defined media formulations reduces variability and allows for the consistent generation of hiPS cells. The Sendai virus (SeV) vector is a non-integrating RNA-based system, thus circumventing concerns associated with the potential disruptive effect on genome integrity integrating vectors can have. Furthermore, these vectors have demonstrated relatively high efficiency in the reprogramming of dermal fibroblasts. In addition, enzymatic single cell passaging of cells facilitates homogeneous maintenance of hiPS cells without substantial prior experience of stem cell culture. Here we describe a protocol that has been extensively tested and developed with a focus on reproducibility and ease of use, providing a robust and practical way to generate defined and xeno-free human hiPS cells from fibroblasts.

Robust derivation of human induced pluripotent stem (hiPS) cells was achieved by using non-integrating Sendai virus (SeV) vector mediated reprogramming of dermal fibroblasts. hiPS cell maintenance and clonal expansion was performed using xeno-free and chemically defined culture conditions with recombinant human laminin 521 (LN-521) matrix and Essential E8 (E8) Medium.

Xeno-free and fully defined conditions are key parameters for robust and reproducible generation of homogenous human induced pluripotent stem (hiPS) ...

Rapid, Directed Differentiation of Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells from Human Embryonic or Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

We describe a robust method to direct the differentiation of pluripotent stem cells into retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE). The purpose of providing a detailed and thorough protocol is to clearly demonstrate each step and to make this readily available to researchers in the field. This protocol results in a homogenous layer of RPE with minimal or no manual dissection needed. The method presented here has been shown to be effective for induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) and human embryonic stem cells. Additionally, we describe methods for cryopreservation of intermediate cell banks that allow long-term storage. RPE generated using this protocol might be useful for iPSC disease-in-a-dish modeling or clinical application.

This protocol describes how to produce retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE) from pluripotent stem cells. The method uses a combination of growth factors and small molecules to direct the differentiation of stem cells into immature RPE in fourteen days and mature, functional RPE after three months.

We describe a robust method to direct the differentiation of pluripotent stem cells into retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE). The purpose of providing ...

Efficient Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells into Liver Cells

The liver detoxifies harmful substances, secretes vital proteins, and executes key metabolic activities, thus sustaining life. Consequently, liver failure&#8212;which can be caused by chronic alcohol intake, hepatitis, acute poisoning, or other insults&#8212;is a severe condition that can culminate in bleeding, jaundice, coma, and eventually death. However, approaches to treat liver failure, as well as studies of liver function and disease, have been stymied in part by the lack of a plentiful supply of human liver cells. To this end, this protocol details the efficient differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) into hepatocyte-like cells, guided by a developmental roadmap that describes how liver fate is specified across six consecutive differentiation steps. By manipulating developmental signaling pathways to promote liver differentiation and to explicitly suppress the formation of unwanted cell fates, this method efficiently generates populations of human liver bud progenitors and hepatocyte-like cells by days 6 and 18 of PSC differentiation, respectively. This is achieved through the temporally-precise control of developmental signaling pathways, exerted by small molecules and growth factors in a serum-free culture medium. Differentiation in this system occurs in monolayers and yields hepatocyte-like cells that express characteristic hepatocyte enzymes and have the ability to engraft a mouse model of chronic liver failure. The ability to efficiently generate large numbers of human liver cells in vitro has ramifications for treatment of liver failure, for drug screening, and for mechanistic studies of liver disease.

This protocol details a monolayer, serum-free method to efficiently generate hepatocyte-like cells from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) in 18 days. This entails six steps as hPSCs sequentially differentiate into intermediate cell-types such as the primitive streak, definitive endoderm, posterior foregut and liver bud progenitors before forming hepatocyte-like cells.