Motor Neurons from Embryonic Stem Cells

By giving certain chemical cues to cultured mouse embryonic stem cells, researchers have been able to coax the cells to differentiate into functioning spinal cord motor neurons. The research was reported in the July 17, 2002, online issue of Cell.

The current attempt to generate motor neurons was built on the findings of many years of research to identify the precise chemical signals in the developing embryo that would induce naïve neuroprogenitor cells to differentiate. These chemical signals direct embryonic stem (ES) cells down a developmental pathway in successive stages, first into neurons and finally into ever more specialized spinal cord motor neurons.

Two of the key signals were found to be retinoic acid, which converts midbrain neural cells into spinal cord progenitors, and Sonic hedgehog, a protein that converts spinal cord progenitor cells into motor neurons and governs what type of neuron will be generated. Sonic hedgehog signaling must occur at exactly the right level of signal activation to generate motor neurons. The researchers believe the same type of approach might be used to grow human motor neurons from stem cells, which could be used to regenerate nerve tissue lost to disease or trauma.

"In principle, there is no reason why this type of approach might not be successful with human cells,” said Thomas Jessel, an investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute (Chevy Chase, MD, USA) who led the research at Columbia University (New York, NY, USA).




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