Human ES cell-derived neural rosettes reveal a functionally distinct early neural stem cell stage

Neural stem cells (NSCs) yield both neuronal and glial progeny, but their differentiation potential toward multiple region-specific neuron types remains remarkably poor. In contrast, embryonic stem cell (ESC) progeny readily yield region-specific neuronal fates in response to appropriate developmental signals. Here we demonstrate prospective and clonal isolation of neural rosette cells (termed R-NSCs), a novel NSC type with broad differentiation potential toward CNS and PNS fates and capable of in vivo engraftment. R-NSCs can be derived from human and mouse ESCs or from neural plate stage embryos. While R-NSCs express markers classically associated with NSC fate, we identified a set of genes that specifically…

• SF
  Starr Foundation
• KF
  Kinetics Foundation
• NS
  National Science Council