Lessons from the Embryonic Neural Stem Cell Niche for Neural Lineage Differentiation of Pluripotent Stem Cells

# The Author(s) 2012. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract Pluripotent stem cells offer an abundant and mal-leable source for the generation of differentiated cells for transplantation as well as for in vitro screens. Patterning and differentiation protocols have been developed to generate neural progeny from human embryonic or induced pluripo-tent stem cells. However, continued refinement is required to enhance efficiency and to prevent the generation of unwanted cell types. We summarize and interpret insights gained from studies of embryonic neuroepithelium. A mul-titude of factors including soluble molecules, interactions with the extracellular matrix and neighboring cells cooper-ate to control neural stem cell self-renewal versus differen-tiation. Applying these findings and concepts to human stem cell systems in vitro may yield more appropriately patterned cell types for biomedical applications