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First published online April 10, 2009

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Oligodendrocyte differentiation: human ES cells take it slow

Damage to myelin, a membrane sheath that encases axons and speeds up nerve impulse transmission, is linked to certain CNS disorders, such as multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury. On p. 1443, Su-Chun Zhang and colleagues now report progress in generating oligodendrocytes - the cells that produce myelin in the CNS - from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), opening up new avenues for both basic and clinical research. Mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) can be efficiently differentiated into oligodendrocytes, but this is not the case for hESCs. The authors show that, as with mESCs, treating hESCs with sonic hedgehog induces oligodendrocyte differentiation by triggering the activation of a conserved transcription factor cascade. But in hESCs, this process takes around 14 weeks; in mESCs, it takes just two. In addition, the mitogen FGF2, which promotes oligodendrocyte differentiation in mESCs, stalls it in hESC-derived cultures. Thus, a conserved transcriptional network appears to underlie oligodendrocyte differentiation in human cells, but this network is probably regulated in different ways among species.

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Related articles in Development:

Human oligodendrocytes from embryonic stem cells: conserved SHH signaling networks and divergent FGF effects

Bao-Yang Hu, Zhong-Wei Du, Xue-Jun Li, Melvin Ayala, and Su-Chun Zhang
Development 2009 136: 1443-1452. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in Development Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?