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The REST protein helps to prevent the premature activation of genes that are only expressed in mature neurons, and is now found to protect the genome of neural progenitor cells.

Human embryonic stem cells (hESC) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) provide new prospects for studying human neurodevelopment and modeling neurological disease. In particular, iPSC-derived neural cells permit a direct comparison of disease-relevant molecular pathways in neurons and glia derived from patients and healthy individuals. A prerequisite for such comparative studies are robust protocols that efficiently yield standardized populations of neural cell types. Here we show that long-term self-renewing neuroepithelial-like stem cells (lt-NES cells) derived from 3 hESC and 6 iPSC lines in two independent laboratories exhibit consistent characteristics including i) continuous expandability in the presence of FGF2 and EGF; ii) stable neuronal and glial differentiation competence; iii) characteristic transcription factor profile; iv) hindbrain specification amenable to regional patterning; v) capacity to generate functionally mature human neurons. We further show that lt-NES cells are developmentally distinct from fetal tissue-derived radial glia-like stem cells. We propose that lt-NES cells provide an interesting tool for studying human neurodevelopment and may serve as a standard system to facilitate comparative analyses of hESC and hiPSC-derived neural cells from control and diseased genetic backgrounds.

The utilization of neural stem cells and their progeny in applications such as disease modelling, drug screening or safety assessment will require the development of robust methods for consistent, high quality uniform cell production. Previously, we described the generation of adherent, homogeneous, non-immortalized mouse and human neural stem cells derived from both brain tissue and pluripotent embryonic stem cells (Conti et al., 2005; Sun et al., 2008). In this study, we report the isolation or derivation of stable neurogenic human NS (hNS) lines from different regions of the 8-9 gestational week fetal human central nervous system (CNS) using new serum-free media formulations including animal component-free conditions. We generated more than 20 adherent hNS lines from whole brain, cortex, lobe, midbrain, hindbrain and spinal cord. We also compared the adherent hNS to some aspects of the human CNS-stem cells grown as neurospheres (hCNS-SCns), which were derived from prospectively isolated CD133(+)CD24(-/lo) cells from 16 to 20 gestational week fetal brain. We found, by RT-PCR and Taqman low-density array, that some of the regionally isolated lines maintained their regional identity along the anteroposterior axis. These NS cells exhibit the signature marker profile of neurogenic radial glia and maintain neurogenic and multipotential differentiation ability after extensive long-term expansion. Similarly, hCNS-SC can be expanded either as neurospheres or in extended adherent monolayer with a morphology and marker expression profile consistent with radial glia NS cells. We demonstrate that these lines can be efficiently genetically modified with standard nucleofection protocols for both protein overexpression and siRNA knockdown of exogenously expressed and endogenous genes exemplified with GFP and Nestin. To investigate the functional maturation of neuronal progeny derived from hNS we (a) performed Agilent whole genome microarray gene expression analysis from cultures undergoing neuronal differentiation for up to 32 days and found increased expression over time for a number of drugable target genes including neurotransmitter receptors and ion channels and (b) conducted a neuropharmacology study utilizing Fura-2 Ca(2+) imaging which revealed a clear shift from an initial glial reaction to carbachol to mature neuron-specific responses to glutamate and potassium after prolonged neuronal differentiation. Fully automated culture and scale-up of select hNS was achieved; cells supplied by the robot maintained the molecular profile of multipotent NS cells and performed faithfully in neuronal differentiation experiments. Here, we present validation and utility of a human neural lineage-restricted stem cell-based assay platform, including scale-up and automation, genetic engineering and functional characterization of differentiated progeny., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The development of optimal culture methods for embryonic, tissue and cancer stem cells is a critical foundation for their application in drug screening. We previously described defined adherent culture conditions that enable expansion of human radial glia-like fetal NS (neural stem) cells as stable cell lines. Similar protocols proved effective in the establishment of tumour-initiating stem cell lines from the human brain tumour glioblastoma multiforme, which we termed GNS (glioma NS) cells. Others have also recently derived more primitive human NS cell lines with greater neuronal subtype differentiation potential than NS cells, which have similarities to the early neuroepithelium, named NES (neuroepithelial stem) cells. In the present paper, we discuss the utility of these cells for chemical screening, and describe methods for a simple high-content live-image-based platform. We report the effects of a panel of 160 kinase inhibitors (Inhibitor Select I and II; Calbiochem) on NES cells, identifying three inhibitors of ROCK (Rho-associated kinase) as promoting the expansion of NES cell cultures. For the GNS cells, we screened a panel of 1000 compounds and confirmed our previous finding of a cytotoxic effect of modulators of neurotransmitter signalling pathways. These studies provide a framework for future higher-throughput screens.

Background: The precise molecular changes that occur when a neural stem (NS) cell switches from a programme of self-renewal to commit towards a specific lineage are not currently well understood. However it is clear that control of gene expression plays an important role in this process. DNA methylation, a mark of transcriptionally silent chromatin, has similarly been shown to play important roles in neural cell fate commitment in vivo. While DNA methylation is known to play important roles in neural specification during embryonic development, no such role has been shown for any of the methyl-CpG binding proteins (Mecps) in mice., Methodology/principal Findings: To explore the role of DNA methylation in neural cell fate decisions, we have investigated the function of Mecps in mouse development and in neural stem cell derivation, maintenance, and differentiation. In order to test whether the absence of phenotype in singly-mutant animals could be due to functional redundancy between Mecps, we created mice and neural stem cells simultaneously lacking Mecp2, Mbd2 and Zbtb33. No evidence for functional redundancy between these genes in embryonic development or in the derivation or maintenance of neural stem cells in culture was detectable. However evidence for a defect in neuronal commitment of triple knockout NS cells was found., Conclusions/significance: Although DNA methylation is indispensable for mammalian embryonic development, we show that simultaneous deficiency of three methyl-CpG binding proteins genes is compatible with apparently normal mouse embryogenesis. Nevertheless, we provide genetic evidence for redundancy of function between methyl-CpG binding proteins in postnatal mice.

The maintenance of pluripotency and specification of cellular lineages during embryonic development are controlled by transcriptional regulatory networks, which coordinate specific sets of genes through both activation and repression. The transcriptional repressor RE1-silencing transcription factor (REST) plays important but distinct regulatory roles in embryonic (ESC) and neural (NSC) stem cells. We investigated how these distinct biological roles are effected at a genomic level. We present integrated, comparative genome- and transcriptome-wide analyses of transcriptional networks governed by REST in mouse ESC and NSC. The REST recruitment profile has dual components: a developmentally independent core that is common to ESC, NSC, and differentiated cells; and a large, ESC-specific set of target genes. In ESC, the REST regulatory network is highly integrated into that of pluripotency factors Oct4-Sox2-Nanog. We propose that an extensive, pluripotency-specific recruitment profile lends REST a key role in the maintenance of the ESC phenotype.

Neural stem (NS) cell lines may be derived via differentiation of pluripotent embryonic stem (ES) cells or from foetal forebrain. However, because NS cells arise in vitro from heterogeneous populations their immediate cellular origin remains unclear. We used microarray-based expression profiling to identify a set of markers expressed by mouse NS cells but not ES cells. One differentially expressed gene encodes the cell surface protein, CD44. CD44 expression is activated by FGF-2 in a subset of cells in both differentiating ES cells and foetal forebrain cultures. Following isolation by flow cytometry the CD44+ population was found to be highly enriched for NS cell founders. We found that other NS cell marker genes are also induced by FGF in culture, including: Adam12, Cadherin20, Cx3cl1, EGFR, Frizzled9, Kitl, Olig1, Olig2 and Vav3. We speculate that the self-renewing NS cell state may be generated in vitro following transcriptional resetting induced by FGF.

Stem cell lines that provide a renewable and scaleable supply of central nervous system cell types would constitute an invaluable resource for basic and applied neurobiology. Here we describe the generation and long-term expansion of multiple human foetal neural stem (NS) cell lines in monolayer culture without genetic immortalization. Adherent human NS cells are propagated in the presence of epidermal growth factor (EGF) and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2), under which conditions they stably express neural precursor markers and exhibit negligible differentiation into neurons or glia. However, they produce astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and neurons upon exposure to appropriate differentiation factors. Single cell cloning demonstrates that human NS cells are tripotent. They retain a diploid karyotype and constant neurogenic capacity after over 100 generations. In contrast to human neurospheres, we observe no requirement for the cytokine leukaemia inhibitory factor (LIF) for continued expansion of adherent human NS cells. Human NS cells can be stably transfected to provide reporter lines and readily imaged in live monolayer cultures, creating the potential for high content genetic and chemical screens.

Background: A recent study has shown that pure neural stem cells can be derived from embryonic stem (ES) cells and primary brain tissue. In the presence of fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) and epidermal growth factor (EGF), this population can be continuously expanded in adherent conditions. In analogy to continuously self-renewing ES cells, these cells were termed 'NS' cells (Conti et al., PLoS Biol 3: e283, 2005). While NS cells have been shown to readily generate neurons and astrocytes, their differentiation into oligodendrocytes has remained enigmatic, raising concerns as to whether they truly represent tripotential neural stem cells., Methodology/principal Findings: Here we provide evidence that NS cells are indeed tripotent. Upon proliferation with FGF2, platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and forskolin, followed by differentiation in the presence of thyroid hormone (T3) and ascorbic acid NS cells efficiently generate oligodendrocytes ( approximately 20%) alongside astrocytes ( approximately 40%) and neurons ( approximately 10%). Mature oligodendroglial differentiation was confirmed by transplantation data showing that NS cell-derived oligodendrocytes ensheath host axons in the brain of myelin-deficient rats., Conclusions/significance: In addition to delineating NS cells as a potential donor source for myelin repair, our data strongly support the view that these adherently expandable cells represent bona fide tripotential neural stem cells.

Stable in vitro propagation of central nervous system (CNS) stem cells would offer expanded opportunities to dissect basic molecular, cellular, and developmental processes and to model neurodegenerative disease. CNS stem cells could also provide a source of material for drug discovery assays and cell replacement therapies. We have recently reported the generation of adherent, symmetrically expandable, neural stem (NS) cell lines derived both from mouse and human embryonic stem cells and from fetal forebrain (Conti L, Pollard SM, Gorba T, Reitano E, Toselli M, Biella G, Sun Y, Sanzone S, Ying QL, Cattaneo E, Smith A. 2005. Niche-independent symmetrical self-renewal of a mammalian tissue stem cell. PLoS Biol 3(9):e283). These NS cells retain neuronal and glial differentiation potential after prolonged passaging and are transplantable. NS cells are likely to comprise the resident stem cell population within heterogeneous neurosphere cultures. Here we demonstrate that similar NS cell cultures can be established from the adult mouse brain. We also characterize the growth factor requirements for NS cell derivation and self-renewal. We discuss our current understanding of the relationship of NS cell lines to physiological progenitor cells of fetal and adult CNS.

Through cell fusion, embryonic stem (ES) cells can erase the developmental programming of differentiated cell nuclei and impose pluripotency. Molecules that mediate this conversion should be identifiable in ES cells. One candidate is the variant homeodomain protein Nanog, which has the capacity to entrain undifferentiated ES cell propagation. Here we report that in fusions between ES cells and neural stem (NS) cells, increased levels of Nanog stimulate pluripotent gene activation from the somatic cell genome and enable an up to 200-fold increase in the recovery of hybrid colonies, all of which show ES cell characteristics. Nanog also improves hybrid yield when thymocytes or fibroblasts are fused to ES cells; however, fewer colonies are obtained than from ES x NS cell fusions, consistent with a hierarchical susceptibility to reprogramming among somatic cell types. Notably, for NS x ES cell fusions elevated Nanog enables primary hybrids to develop into ES cell colonies with identical frequency to homotypic ES x ES fusion products. This means that in hybrids, increased Nanog is sufficient for the NS cell epigenome to be reset completely to a state of pluripotency. We conclude that Nanog can orchestrate ES cell machinery to instate pluripotency with an efficiency of up to 100% depending on the differentiation status of the somatic cell.

Evidence for neurogenesis within the adult brain has challenged traditional views that this tissue is devoid of stem cell activity. This raises the possibility of introducing new cells through cell transplantation or stimulating endogenous neurogenesis as routes to treat disease and injury. Fetal and adult neural stem/progenitor cells can be isolated and expanded in vitro and might provide a cell source for such transplantations. Embryonic stem (ES) cells, which can generate any adult tissues, offer an alternative unlimited supply of neural tissue. We recently showed that both mouse and human ES cells can be converted to adherent neural stem (NS) cell lines [1] . Here we discuss the benefits of working with NS cell lines and how they might be exploited for studies of fundamental cellular processes, such as neuronal specification and differentiation. NS cells also serve as versatile models of disease processes, either through genetic manipulations or direct isolation from disease carriers and can be exploited in pharmaceutical drug screening. Longer term, NS cells offer an opportunity to rigorously test the efficacy of cell-based therapies and develop strategies for tissue engineering.

Embryonic stem (ES) cells are a unique resource, providing in principle access to unlimited quantities of every cell type in vitro. They constitute an accessible system for modeling fundamental developmental processes, such as cell fate choice, commitment, and differentiation. Furthermore, the pluripotency of ES cells opens up opportunities for use of human ES cells as a source of material for pharmaceutical screening and cell-based transplantation therapies. Widespread application of ES cell-based technologies in both basic biology and medicine necessitates development of robust and reliable protocols for controlling self-renewal and differentiation in the laboratory. This chapter describes protocols that enable the conversion of mouse ES cells in simple adherent conditions to either terminally differentiated neurons and glia or self-renewing but lineage-restricted neural stem cell lines. It also reports on the current status in transfer of these approaches to human ES cells.

Background: Glioblastoma multiforme, the most common type of primary brain tumor in adults, is driven by cells with neural stem (NS) cell characteristics. Using derivation methods developed for NS cells, it is possible to expand tumorigenic stem cells continuously in vitro. Although these glioblastoma-derived neural stem (GNS) cells are highly similar to normal NS cells, they harbor mutations typical of gliomas and initiate authentic tumors following orthotopic xenotransplantation. Here, we analyzed GNS and NS cell transcriptomes to identify gene expression alterations underlying the disease phenotype. Methods: Sensitive measurements of gene expression were obtained by high-throughput sequencing of transcript tags (Tag-seq) on adherent GNS cell lines from three glioblastoma cases and two normal NS cell lines. Validation by quantitative real-time PCR was performed on 82 differentially expressed genes across a panel of 16 GNS and 6 NS cell lines. The molecular basis and prognostic relevance of expression differences were investigated by genetic characterization of GNS cells and comparison with public data for 867 glioma biopsies. Results: Transcriptome analysis revealed major differences correlated with glioma histological grade, and identified misregulated genes of known significance in glioblastoma as well as novel candidates, including genes associated with other malignancies or glioma-related pathways. This analysis further detected several long non-coding RNAs with expression profiles similar to neighboring genes implicated in cancer. Quantitative PCR validation showed excellent agreement with Tag-seq data (median Pearson r = 0.91) and discerned a gene set robustly distinguishing GNS from NS cells across the 22 lines. These expression alterations include oncogene and tumor suppressor changes not detected by microarray profiling of tumor tissue samples, and facilitated the identification of a GNS expression signature strongly associated with patient survival (P = 1e-6, Cox model). Conclusions: These results support the utility of GNS cell cultures as a model system for studying the molecular processes driving glioblastoma and the use of NS cells as reference controls. The association between a GNS expression signature and survival is consistent with the hypothesis that a cancer stem cell component drives tumor growth. We anticipate that analysis of normal and malignant stem cells will be an important complement to largescale profiling of primary tumors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: During mammalian neurogenesis newly born neurons migrate radially along the extended bipolar process of cells termed radial glia. Our views of radial glia as a ‘static’ support/guide cell have changed over recent years. It is now clear that within the developing cortex, and possibly the entire central nervous system (CNS), radial glia actively divide, producing daughter cells that include both neurons and glia. A subset of forebrain radial glia may serve as the founders of adult forebrain neural stem cells and genetic disruption of normal radial glia function can result in tumorigenesis or congenital neurological disorders. Elucidating the cell intrinsic and environmental cues that regulate radial glia behaviour is therefore essential for a full understanding of mammalian CNS development and physiology. Here, we review those studies in which radial glia have been investigated in vitro following isolation from foetal tissues or differentiation of embryonic stem (ES) cells. We discuss how these approaches, together with an ability to expand radial glia-like neural stem (NS) cell lines, may offer unique opportunities in basic and applied neurobiology. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]