Cai Chunyu, Grabel Laura
Biology Department, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut 06459-1070, USA.
Dev Dyn. 2007 Dec;236(12):3255-66. doi: 10.1002/dvdy.21306.
Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are a potential source of neural derivatives that can be used in stem cell-based therapies designed to treat neurological disorders. The derivation of specific neuronal or glial cell types from ESCs invariably includes the production of neural stem cells (NSCs). We describe the basic mechanisms of neural induction during vertebrate embryogenesis and how this information helped formulate several protocols used to generate NSCs from ESCs. We highlight the advantages and disadvantages of each approach and review what has been learned about the intermediate stages in the transition from ESC to NSC. Recent data describing how specific growth factors and signaling molecules regulate production of NSCs are described and a model synthesizing this information is presented.
胚胎干细胞（ESCs）是神经衍生物的潜在来源，可用于旨在治疗神经疾病的基于干细胞的疗法。从胚胎干细胞中衍生出特定的神经元或神经胶质细胞类型总是包括神经干细胞（NSCs）的产生。我们描述了脊椎动物胚胎发育过程中神经诱导的基本机制，以及这些信息如何帮助制定了几种从胚胎干细胞生成神经干细胞的方案。我们强调了每种方法的优缺点，并回顾了在从胚胎干细胞向神经干细胞转变的中间阶段所学到的知识。描述了关于特定生长因子和信号分子如何调节神经干细胞产生的最新数据，并提出了一个综合这些信息的模型。
