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Functional Neural Development from Human Embryonic Stem Cells: Accelerated Synaptic Activity via Astrocyte Coculture
Open accessAbstract
How a naive human neuroepithelial cell becomes an electrophysiologically active neuron remains unknown. Here, we describe the early physiological development of neurons differentiating from naive human embryonic stem (hES) cells. We found that differentiating neuronal cells progressively decrease their resting membrane potential, gain characteristic Na+ and K+ currents, and fire mature action potentials by 7 weeks of differentiation. This is similar to the maturation pattern observed in animals, albeit on a greatly expanded time scale. An additional 3 weeks of differentiation resulted in neurons that could fire repetitive trains of action potentials in response to depolarizing current pulses. The onset of spontaneous synaptic activity also occurred after 7 weeks of differentiation, in association with the differentiation of astrocytes within the culture. Cocultures of hES cell-derived neuroepithelial cells with exogenous astrocytes significantly accelerated the onset of synaptic currents but did not alter action potential generation. These findings suggest that the development of membrane characteristics and action potentials depend on the intrinsic maturation of Na+ and K+ currents, whereas synaptic transmission is enhanced by astrocytes, which may be achieved independently of the maturation of action potentials. Furthermore, we found that although astrocyte-conditioned medium accelerated synaptic protein localization, it did not increase synaptic activity, suggesting a contact-dependent mechanism by which astrocytes augment synaptic activity. These results lay the foundation for future studies examining the functional development of human neurons and provide support for the potential application of human cells in restorative neuronal therapies.
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“neurons after ~4 weeks could be induced to fire multiple action potentials”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Johnson, M. A., Weick, J. P., Pearce, R. A., & Zhang, S.-C.
- Affiliations
- University of Wisconsin System (US)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Venue
- The Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience
- Published
- 2007-03-21
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 3069-3077
- ISSN
- 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
- 1529-2401
- PMC
- PMC2735200
- OpenAlex
- W2016961314
- Cited by
- 318
- References
- 69
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 24 · 2016: 22 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 17
- FWCI
- 5.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Waisman Center (P30 HD03352, HD03352)
- National Institutes of Health (HD033.52)
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (T32GM008692)
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R01NS045926)
- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P30HD03352, HD03352)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P30HD03352., P30HD003352)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Developmental Neuroscience › Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Pluripotent Stem Cells Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
- Keywords
- human embryonic stem cells, neuronal differentiation, neuroepithelial cells, synaptic activity, action potential generation, sodium and potassium currents, resting membrane potential, spontaneous synaptic transmission, astrocyte-conditioned medium, synaptic protein localization, neuronal maturation
- MeSH terms
- Action Potentials, Animals, Astrocytes, Cell Differentiation, Cells, Cultured, Humans, Synaptic Transmission, Neurons, Coculture Techniques, Cell Enlargement, Cell Proliferation, Mice, Embryonic Stem Cells
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