Differentiation of hES cells into astrocytes in a chemically defined medium.

<p>(A): Neural stem cells induced by N2 medium were cultured for 14 days after removal of the core of spheres with a glass pipette and change of medium to G5 medium. The proliferated cells were subcultured onto a PLL/LAM coated plate and cultured for 14 days in G5 medium. Immunostaining with antibody to GFAP showed that most of the subcultured cells had differentiated into astrocytes. DAPI (blue) and GFAP (green) staining profiles. Neural stem cells induced by xeno-free ES-ACM were subcultured onto PLL coated plate and cultured for 6 weeks in ES-ACM. (B): Immunostaining with antibody to MAP2 showed that the subcultured NSCs had differentiated into mature neurons. DAPI (blue) and MAP2 (red) staining profiles. Bar = 100 µm.