Neural crest stem cells can be induced in vitro from human-induced pluripotent stem cells using a novel protocol free of feeder cells.

Our knowledge of human neural crest stem cells (NCSCs) is expanding, owing to recent advances in technologies utilizing human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) that generate NCSCs. However, the clinical application of these technologies requires the reduction of xeno-materials. To overcome this significant impediment, this study aimed to devise a novel method to induce NCSCs from hiPSCs without using a feeder cell layer. hiPSCs were cultured in feeder-free maintenance media containing the Rho-associated coiled-coil forming kinase inhibitor Y-27632. When the cells reached 50-70% confluence, differentiation was initiated by replacing the medium with knockout serum replacement (KSR) medium containing Noggin and SB431542. The KSR medium was then gradually replaced with increasing concentrations of Neurobasal medium from day 5 to 11. Immunocytochemistry and flow cytometry were performed 12 days after induction of differentiation and revealed that the cells generated from hiPSCs expressed the NCSC markers p75 and HNK-1, but not the hiPSC marker SOX2. These findings demonstrate that hiPSCs were induced to differentiate into NCSCs in the absence of feeder cells.