Development of the method of dopaminergic neuron induction from ES cells using Wnt signaling pathway

在细胞移植治疗帕金森病的研究中，采用小鼠源性PA6细胞共培养的方法将胚胎干（ES）分化为多巴胺能（DA）神经元。然而，对于临床应用，不可能使用来自小鼠的PA6细胞，该方法的分子机制有待揭示。我们研究了wnt相关分子的作用，发现PA6细胞分泌Wnt5a和sFRP1，两者协同诱导小鼠胚胎干细胞形成神经干细胞。这些结果将有助于理解SDIA的机制，并为胚胎干细胞诱导DA神经元提供一种新的化学定义方法。

For the research of cell transplantation therapy for Parkinson's disease, the method of coculture with mouse derived PA6 cells has been used for the differentiation of embryonic stem (ES) into dopaminergic (DA) neurons. For the clinical application, nevertheless, it is impossible to use PA6 cells derived from mouse, the molecular mechanism of the method should be revealed.We investigated the roles of Wnt-related molecules and revealed that PA6 cells secreted Wnt5a and sFRP1, and both of them cooperatively induced neural stem cells from mouse ES cells. These results will lead to understanding the mechanism of SDIA and provide a new chemically defined method of DA neuron induction from ES cells.