Effective motor neuron differentiation of hiPSCs on a patch made of crosslinked monolayer gelatin nanofibers

Abstract

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are differentiated into mature motor neurons by using a culture patch made of crosslinked monolayer gelatin nanofibers. Compared to the conventional culture dish method, the patch method is more effective for culture and differentiation of stem cells, because cells are supported by a net-like structure made of crosslinked monolayer nanofibers instead of a planar substrate. The pores of the net-like structure have sizes smaller than those of cells but large enough to minimize the exogenous cell–material contact and to increase the permeability as well as the efficiency of cell–cell interactions. As expected, the differentiated hiPSCs showed the up-regulation of the expression of neuron specific proteins and the signature of matured motor neurons, allowing plug-and-play with a commercial multi-electrode array for neuron spike recording.