Presumptive neurons derived by differentiation of a human embryonal carcinoma cell line exhibit tetrodotoxin-sensitive sodium currents and the capacity for regenerative responses.

Cloned human embryonal carcinoma cells (NTERA-2 cl.D1) differentiate into neuron-like cells upon exposure to retinoic acid. Using whole-cell patch-clamp techniques, these putative neurons exhibited rapidly activating and inactivating inward currents upon depolarization as well as outward currents. The electrical characteristics and tetrodotoxin (TTX) sensitivity of the inward currents suggest that they were sodium currents. By contrast, only outward potassium currents were seen in the undifferentiated stem cells. Under current clamp conditions, the neuron-like cells showed regenerative responses. The peaks of these responses never exceeded the O-mV level, perhaps due to the low mean inward current density of 93.8 +/- 17.8 (SEM) microA/cm2:n = 9. The electrophysiological characteristics of these human teratocarcinoma-derived neuron-like cells were consistent with our previous identification of these cells as neurons, but suggest that they may resemble immature embryonic, rather than adult, neurons.