METHODS FOR INDUCING DIFFERENTIATION FROM HUMAN EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS TO DOPAMINERGIC NEURONS BY USING VASCULAR ENDOTHELIAL GROWTH FACTOR

摘要

Methods for inducing differentiation from human embryonic stem cells to dopaminergic neurons are provided to block possibility of differentiation into various cells including myocardial cells, muscle cells, liver cells and hematopoietic cells, so that differentiation efficiency into high purity nerve cells for cell therapy is increased. A method for inducing differentiation from human embryonic stem cells to dopaminergic neurons comprises the steps of: treating embryoid bodies formed from human embryonic stem cells with 40-60 ng/ml of a vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) for 7-9 days to induce the neuroectoderm-increased embryoid bodies; culturing the neuroectoderm-increased embryoid bodies attached to a tissue culture dish to induce neural precursor cells; detaching the induced neural precursor cells from the tissue culture dish and re-attaching and culturing them in the dish to increase purity and maintain density uniformly; and finally differentiating the high purity of neural precursor cells to dopaminergic neurons. Further, a 20-30 ug/ml of fibronectin is added into the neuroectoderm-increased embryoid bodies.