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Retinoid acid and taurine promote NeuroD1-induced differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells into retinal ganglion cells

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Abstract

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) possess the capacity to differentiate into multiple cell types including retinal neurons. Despite substantial progress in the transcriptional regulation of iPSC differentiation process, the efficiency of generation of retinal neurons from iPSCs is still low. In this study, we investigated the role of transcription factor NeuroD1 in the differentiation of iPSCs into retinal neurons. We observed that retrovirus-mediated NeuroD1 overexpression in iPSCs increased the efficiency of neuronal differentiation. Immunostaining analysis showed that NeuroD1 overexpression increased the expression of retina ganglion cell markers including Islet-1, Math5, Brn3b, and Thy1.2. Retinoid acid (RA) and taurine further improved the differentiation efficiency of iPSCs overexpressing NeuroD1. However, RA and taurine did not promote differentiation in the absence of NeuroD1 overexpression. Together, our study provides new evidence in transcription factor-regulated stem cell differentiation in vitro.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, China

    Li Huang

  2. Head&Neck Surgery Department of Otolaryngology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    Mengfei Chen

  3. Ophthalmology Department, Sir Runrun Hospital Affiliated With Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 325200, China

    Weizhong Zhang

  4. Institute of Aging Research, Dongguan Scientific Research Center, Guangdong Medical University, Dongguan, 523808, China

    Xuerong Sun

  5. State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmologic Center, Sun Yet-sen University, Guangzhou, 510060, China

    Bingqian Liu & Jian Ge

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  1. Li Huang
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Huang, L., Chen, M., Zhang, W. et al. Retinoid acid and taurine promote NeuroD1-induced differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells into retinal ganglion cells. Mol Cell Biochem 438, 67–76 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11010-017-3114-x

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