Extracellular cues accelerate neurogenesis of induced pluripotent stem cell derived neurons

Neurogenesis is a complex process encompassing neuronal progenitor cell expansion/proliferation and differentiation, followed by neuron maturation. In vivo models are most commonly used to study neurogenesis; however, human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived (iPSC) neurons are increasingly used to establish cellular models of human neurological processes. Unfortunately, the differentiation and maturation of iPSC-derived neurons varies in methodology, is asynchronous, and has restricted experimental utility because of extended differentiation/maturation times. To accelerate and standardize iPS neuronal maturation, we differentiated and matured feeder layer-free iPSC-derived neuronal cultures under physiological oxygen levels (5%), and modified the underlying extracellular matrix and medium composition. Our results demonstrate that calretinin gene expression occurred earlier under our optimized iPS conditions and the corresponding neurogenesis burst associated with proliferative expansion occurred more synchronously, reliably emerging two and three weeks after differentiation. As expected, the expression of mature neuronal markers (i.e., NeuN+/Calbindin+) started at 4-weeks post-differentiation. qPCR microarray, western blot and single cell analyses using high content imaging indicated that 4-week iPS neuronal cultures were non-cycling with decreased expression of cyclin D1 and Ki67. Our data demonstrate that extracellular cues influence the kinetics of neurogenesis models and that feeder layer-free iPSC-derived neurogenesis can be reproducibly miniaturized.