Multiparameter Flow Cytometry Applications for Analyzing and Isolating Neural Cell Populations Derived from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) have been successfully differentiated to many cell types relevant to human neurodegenerative diseases. Moreover, induced pluripotent stem cell technology offers an unprecedented opportunity to study these diseases in a patient-specific manner. One impediment to this research is that neural differentiations from PSCs often yield heterogeneous cell cultures, which can hamper or preclude studies requiring pure cell populations. Researchers have partially overcome this hurdle by identifying cell surface signatures of neural stem cells, neurons, glia, and neural crest cells and utilized flow cytometry to isolate near-pure populations of these cells. These advancements have enabled groundbreaking research models of neurodegenerative diseases and have been instrumental in animal models of spinal cord injury. In addition, flow cytometry has been employed to facilitate quantification of neural differentiation cultures. The identification of novel cell surface signatures has also been instrumental in a more comprehensive characterization of pluripotent stem cell derivatives, as well as adult and cancer stem cells. All together, these studies have demonstrated that multiparameter flow cytometry is an indispensable tool for studying neurogenesis and other cell lineages utilizing human PSCs.