배아줄기세포는 다양한 분화 유도 방법을 통해 신경계세포로 분화시킬 수 있을 뿐만 아니라, 보다 더 엄격한 선발조건을 적용함으로써 특정 종류의 신경세포만을 확보할 수도 있게 되었다. 세포사멸연구를 포함한 신경생리학적 연구의 대상으로써 중요한 요건은 이렇게 확보한 배아줄기세포 유래의 신경계세포들이 정상적인 신경생리학적 특성을 갖고 있어야 하며, 동시에 그런 신경생리학적 특성이 체외에서 일정기간 동안 이상 자연적인 세포사멸없이 유지되어야 한다는 것이다. 생쥐

Specific protocols to increase the differentiation of neuronal cells from embryonic stem (ES) cells have been well established, such as retinoic acid induction and lineage selection of neuronal cells. For the neuropathological studies, ES-derived neurons (ES neurons) must show normal physiological characteristics related to cell death and survival and should be maintained in vitro for a sufficient time to show insults-specific cell death without spontaneous death. When mouse ES cells were plated onto astrocytes monolayer after retinoic acid induction, most ES cells differentiated into neuronal cells, which were confirmed by the presence of specific neuronal markers, and the cultures were viable for at least four weeks. When these cultures were examined for vulnerability to glutamate excitotoxicity, ES neurons were vulnerable to excitotoxic insults mediated by agonist-specific receptors. The vulnerability to excitotoxic death increased with developmental age of ES neurons in vitro. Specific receptors for Neurotrophin and GDNF family ligands were present in ES neurons. GDNF and NT-3 could modulate the survival and excitotoxic vulnerability of ES neurons. The vulnerability and resistance to toxic insults, which are essential requirements of model culture systems for neuropathological studies, make ES neurons to a useful model culture system. Especially ES cell are highly amenable to genetic modification unlikely to primary neuronal cells, which will give us a chance to answer more complicated neurophysiological questions. Recently there was an outstanding attempt to explore the cellular toxicity using human ES cells (Schrattenholz & Klemm, 2007) and it suggested that ES cells could be a new model system for neurophysiological studies soon and go further a large-scale screening system for pharmacological compounds in the future.

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