894 • the journal of neuroscience, january

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Development/Plasticity/Repair

Murine Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Pyramidal Neurons

Integrate into the Cerebral Cortex and Appropriately ProjectAxons to Subcortical Targets

MakotoIdeguchi,1 TheoD. Palmer,2 Lawrence D. Recht,1 and James M.Weimann1

Departments of1Neurology and 2Neurosurgery, Stanford Medical School, Stanford, California 94305

Although embryonic stem (ES) cells have been induced to differentiate into diverse neuronal cell types, the production of corticalprojection neurons with the correct morphology and axonal connectivity has not been demonstrated. Here, we show that in vitro

patterningiscriticalforgeneratingneuralprecursorcells(ES-NPCs)competenttoformcorticalpyramidalneurons.Duringthefirstweekofneuralinduction,theseES-NPCsbegintoexpressgenesthatarespecificforforebrainprogenitors;anadditionalweekofdifferentiation

produces mature neurons with many features of cortical pyramidal neurons. Aftertransplantation intothe murine cerebral cortex, thesespecified ES-NPCs manifest the correct dendritic and axonal connectivity for their areal location. ES-NPCs transplanted into the deep

layers of the motor cortex differentiate into layer 5 pyramidal neurons and extend axons to distant subcortical targets such as the ponsandasfarcaudalasthepyramidaldecussationanddescendingspinaltractand,importantly,donotextendaxonstoinappropriatetargets

such as the superior colliculus (SC). ES-NPCs transplanted into the visual cortex extend axons to thedorsal aspect of theSC and pons butavoid ventral SC and the pyramidal tract, whereas cells transplanted deepinto the somatosensory cortex project axons to the ventral SC,

avoiding the dorsal SC. Thus, these data establish that ES-derived cortical projection neurons can integrate into anatomically relevantcircuits.

IntroductionEmbryonic stem (ES) cells have attracted much attention as alimitless source to create the myriad of cell types found in thebody. The finding that neurons can be generated from ES cells(ESCs) has led to the expectation that neurological conditionssuch as Parkinsons disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS),stroke, or spinal cord injury will be treatable using cell-basedtransplantation strategies (Muotri and Gage, 2006; Suzuki andSvendsen, 2008). However, the complexity of neuronal subtypesand connectivity within the CNS makes it increasingly apparentthat multiple facets of the physiological and anatomical pheno-type of a neuron will need to be recapitulated before their use in aclinical setting will be realized (Svendsen et al., 2001).

An important characteristic of neuronal function is the exten-sion of axons in a very stereotypic and selective manner to otherbrain regions in which stable synaptic connections are formedonto the dendrites of postsynaptic neurons. It is these connec-tions that endow the brain with its computational abilities, andcorrect connectivity between transplanted ES-derived neurons

and the host circuitry is a critical step in restoringcircuit integrityand behavioral function. To date, some characteristics of corticalneurons have been reported in ES-derived cells such as neuro-transmitter phenotype, gene expression, and rudimentary syn-apse formation (Brustle et al., 1997; Werniget al., 2004; Muotrietal., 2005). However, establishment of the correct dendritic(Konur and Ghosh, 2005) and axonal connectivity (OLeary andKoester, 1993; Larsen and Callaway, 2006) of transplanted ES-derived neurons in the mammalian cerebral cortex has not beenwell established.

The cortex is partitioned into distinct regions that subservedifferent functions such as vision, touch, hearing, and movement.Each of these areas is composed of six layers of glutamatergic pyra-

midal neurons, which comprise

80% of the total number ofneurons. The pyramidal neurons in each of the six layers arecharacterized by distinct firing patterns, axonal and dendriticprojection patterns (Connors and Gutnick, 1990; Tseng andPrince, 1993), and gene expression profiles (Hevner, 2006). Ofinterest are the neurons in layers 5 and 6 that comprise the cor-ticofugal pathways and of particular clinical relevance are thecorticospinal motor neurons that transmit information from thecortex to the spinal cord to control muscle function. It is theseneurons that are lost in ALS (Boillee et al., 2006) and spinal cordinjury (Hains et al., 2003).

Two major classes of layer 5 neurons are born and migrateinto the cortical plate at the same time during development

(OLeary and Koester, 1993). On arriving in the newly formingcortex, one class of layer 5 neuron extends axons to the contralat-eral cortex via the corpus callosum, whereas the other class ex-

Received Aug. 28, 2009; revised Oct. 27, 2009; accepted Nov. 5, 2009.

This work was supported by National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Grants NS056138 and

NS043879, Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Fund RR07-197, and California Institute for Regenerative

Medicine Grant RC1-00134 (T.D.P.).

Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. James M. Weimann, Department of Neurology, Stanford Medical

School, MSLS P256, 1201 Welch Road, Stanford, CA 94305-5489. E-mail: [email protected].

M. Ideguchis present address: Department of Neurosurgery, Yamaguchi University School of Medicine, 1-1-1

Minami-kogushi, Ube, Yamaguchi 755-8505, Japan.DOI:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4318-09.2010

Copyright 2010 the authors 0270-6474/10/300894-11$15.00/0

894 The Journal of Neuroscience, January 20, 2010 30(3):894904


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tends axons through the internal capsule to subcortical brainstructures. Subcortical projecting layer 5 neurons from differentregions of cortexall project a major axon into the pyramidal tractwhile extending collateral axons to the colliculus and pons. Afterbirth, these neurons start to refine their axonal projections in anarea-specific manner such that neurons from visual and somato-sensory cortex retract the portion of axon in the spinal tract butmaintain collaterals to superior colliculus and pons. Corticospi-nalmotor neurons lose their collaterals to colliculus butmaintaincollaterals within pons and keep extending their axons down thespinal cord. Thus, the maturepattern of connectivityfrom layer 5neurons to subcortical targets is the outcome of refinement ofinitially exuberant projections and is thought to be activity de-pendent (Luo and OLeary, 2005).

In this report, we demonstrate that ES cells can be inducedto differentiate into cortical projection neurons. This requiresspecific patterning in vitro that is facilitated by coculture withMS5 stromal cells. The ES-neural precursor cells (ES-NPCs)can differentiate into layer 5 cortical neurons when trans-planted in the neonatal mouse cerebral cortex. Axons fromthese neurons acquire a cortical area-specific projection pat-tern that recapitulates the normal adult structure necessary for

integrating incoming signals, computing, and outputting toother brain regions.

Materials andMethodsCell culture. The ES cell line E14Tg2a.4 was cultured as described byFriedel et al. (2005) without the need of a feeder layer. Vector constructscontaining CMV (cytomegalovirus) -actin driving enhanced green flu-orescent protein (eGFP) [50 g; CA-eGFP-mut4 (Okada et al., 1999)]and pGKneo (5 g) were linearized and electroporated into 10 7 cells.Cells were plated at low density, 10 6 per 10 cm dish coated with gelatin(Millipore Bioscience Research Reagents; ES-006-B) for 10 d in ES cellmedia (Table 1) under Geneticin selection (125 g/ml; Invitrogen;11811). Colonies (n 96) were selected based on the intensity of eGFPfluorescence.Two clonesF7 andC7 were chosenbasedon their sustained

expression level of eGFP and their ability to differentiate into the threemain neural lineages, neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes afterneural induction.

ES cells were induced to a neural precursor state by coculture with themouse stromal cell line MS5 (Kirin Pharma) (Barberi et al., 2003) (Table1). Briefly, a confluent plate of MS5 cells were treated with mitomycin C(2g/ml) for 2 h, washed, dissociated, andplated onto gelatin-coated 10

cm dishes. The next day, 10

4

ESCs were added and cultured in differen-tiation media for 7 d (Table 1). FGF2 (fibroblast growth factor 2) (R&DSystems) at 20 ng/ml added for the last 2 d increased cortical pyramidalneuron numbers. ES-NPC colonies were removed by incubation inCa 2, Mg2-free HBSS (15 mM HEPES) for 30 45 min. These ES-NPCcolonies were dissociated in papain (Worthington Biochemicals) for 20min at 35C and triturated into a single-cell suspension.

In addition, ES cells were induced to become NPCs using the 4/4retinoic acid (RA) embryoid body (EB) method (EB-NPCs) (Bain et al.,1995). ES cells (5 10 4/ml) were added to nonadherent 10 cm Petridishes using ES cell media without leukocyte inhibitory factor (LIF) withmedia changes every 2 d. Plates were tapped three to five times each daytominimize adhesion totheplates. RAwas added ondays 4 and 6 at1 M.After 8 d, theembryoidbodies were dissociatedin papainas noted above.

The dissociated ES-NPCs were either plated for immediate immuno-

staining or further differentiated into mature neural cells after plating1.5 10 5 cells in 500 l of NB media (Neurobasal and B27; Invitrogen;21103-049 and 1311570) in each well. Eight-well glass slides (Falcon;BD Biosciences Discovery Labware; 123456) were coated with poly-ornithine followed by fibronectin (Millipore; FC010) before use. TheES-NPCs were allowed to differentiate for 7 d and then fixed in 4%paraformaldehyde.

Immunohistochemistry. After fixation in 4% paraformaldehyde, fol-lowed by permeabilizationand blocking with0.3% Triton X-100 and2%skim milk for cell cultures or 5% normal goat serum for brain sections,cells/sections were incubated at 4C overnight in primary antibodies(Table 2). Appropriate cyanin-3 (Cy3)- and Cy5-labeled secondary an-tibodies (Jackson ImmunoResearch Laboratories) were used at roomtemperature for 2 h. Green fluorescent protein (GFP) was visualized byits own fluorescence or with an anti-GFP primary antibody and FITCsecondary antibody. For nuclear staining, 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylin-dole (DAPI) (200 ng/ml) was added to the final wash. The percentage ofimmunoreactive cells was evaluated using a laser confocal microscope(Zeiss LSM5). The cells in 10 fields were counted for four to seven inde-pendent cultures. The total number of cells was evaluated by countingDAPI-positive nuclei.

ES-NPC transplantation. Dissociated ES-NPCs were transplanted intothe cerebral cortex of neonatal C57BL/6 (The Jackson Laboratory) orSwiss Webster (Charles Rivers) mice, aged postnatal day 1 (P1) to P3,following Stanford Administrative Panel on Laboratory Animal Careguidelines. Briefly, neonatal micewere anesthetized by submersion in icewater until thepups stopped breathing. Themice were then immobilizedon wet gauzeover anice bed with the headin the horizontal position anda midline incision made. A small hole was drilled in the skull over the

motor, somatosensory, or visual cortex. A fine-tipped, sterile glass pi-pette filled withES-NPCs (40,000/l) was positionedusing a stereotacticdevice to a depth of 400 m. Approximately 5000 cells were slowly in-

Table1. Compositionof media used topropagate ES,MS5 cell lines,and neuralinductionof ES cells on MS5stromal cells

Media Source

ES cell culture mediaGMEM 500 ml Sigma-Aldrich; G5154FBS 10% HyClone; SH30071.03Glutamine 2 mM Invitrogen; 25030-081

NEAA 0.1 mM Invitrogen; 11140-050Sodium pyruvate 1 mM Invitrogen; 11360-070

2-Mercaptoethanol 55M Invitrogen; 21985-023LIF 2000 U/ml Conditioned mediaPen/Strep 100 U/ml Invitrogen; 15140-122

MS5 culture mediaMEM 500 ml Invitrogen; 12571-063FBS 10% Invitrogen; 16140-071Pen/Strep 100 U/ml Invitrogen; 15140-122

MS5 and ES differentiation mediaGMEM 500 ml Invitrogen; 11710-035KSR 10% Invitrogen; 10828-028NEAA 0.1 mM Invitrogen; 11140-050

Sodium pyruvate 1 mM Invitrogen; 11360-0702-Mercaptoethanol 55M Invitrogen; 21985-023

Pen/Strep 100 U/ml Invitrogen; 15140-122

Abbreviations:GMEM,Glasgow minimalessentialmedium;NEAA,nonessentialaminoacids;KSR, knock-outserumreplacement;MEM,minimum essential medium.

Table2. Antibodies used in this study,dilution, andsource

Antibody Dilution Source

-Tubulin-II I 1:600 Covance Research Products; PRB-435PCNPase 1:200 Sigma-Aldrich; C5922Ctip2 1:500 Abcam; ab18465GFAP 1:2000 Millipore Bioscience Research Reagents; AB5804GFP 1:2000 Invitrogen; A11122

MAP2ab 1:500 Sigma-Aldrich; M1406NCAM 1:300 Millipore Bioscience Research Reagents; AB5032

Nestin 1:300 BD Biosciences Pharmingen; 556309NeuN 1:200 Millipore Bioscience Research Reagents; MAB377Oct3/4 1:100 Santa Cruz Biotechnology; SC-8628Otx1 1:400 Abnova; H00005013-A01RC2 1:200 DSHB; RC2-sSSEA1 1:400 DSHB; MC480-s

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troduced into the cortex over several minutes.The skin was closed with tissue adhesive (Vet-bond; 3M), and the pups were resuscitated un-der a warming lamp.

Two or 3 weeks after transplantation, micewere perfused transcardially. Brains were re-moved andsectionedat 60m thickness. Free-floating sections were immunostained withthe

indicated primary antibodies and appropriatesecondary antibodies, as described above. Ananti-GFP antibody and diaminobenzidine(DAB) (Sigma-Aldrich; D5905) enhancementwasused to visualize thedendrites andaxonsofGFP-positive neurons.

A reproducible and reliable samplingmethod was used to estimate the number ofaxons that invade subcortical targets aftertransplantation of ES-NPCs. After transplant-ing MS5-NPCs into the visual, somatosensory,or motor cortex, sections in the parasagittalplane were made, processedfor GFP/DAB, andbright-field micrographs were taken of eachsection of the ipsilateral SC (usually 710 sec-tions). The SC was divided into a dorsal (layerIIII) anda ventral (layers VVII) region andaline drawn bisecting the anterior and posteriorSC. Onto this image was superimposed thedark-field image of the axons (see Fig. 6), andthe number of axons that cross this line wasenumerated. Although this is probably an un-derestimate of the number of axons in the SC,this method provided an unbiased and repro-ducible assessment of axon distribution. Thesame method was used to count the axons inthe pons, pyramidal decussation, and spinaltract (see Fig. 5).

Reverse transcription-PCR analysis. Total

RNA was extracted from ESCs, E14 cortex, day7 MS5-NPCs, day 8 EB-NPCs, and ES-derived neurons after an addi-tional 7 d of differentiation, using RNeasy Mini-plus kit (QIAGEN).Total RNA (1 g) was reverse transcribed using oligo-dT primers with aSuperscript II kit (Invitrogen). PCR was performed for 28 cycles usingone-twentieth of the final cDNA from the reverse transcription. Primerswere designed using FRODO primer selection (Rozen and Skaletsky,2000) and when applicable spanned at least one intron to ensure ampli-fication of cDNA and not genomic DNA. The primer sequences andmelting temperatures are found in supplemental Table S4 (available atwww.jneurosci.org as supplemental material).

Statistical analysis. Statistical analysis was performed using a com-mercially available software package (Statview 5.0; SAS Institute).Data were tested by one-way ANOVA and Bonferroni/Dunns posthoc analysis or Students t test. Differences were considered statisti-

cally significant at p 0.05. Data are presented as means SDs. Allresults were derived from three to seven independent experiments.

ResultsOur goal was to establish protocols to generate long-distancecortical projection neurons that form the correct synaptic con-nectivity between stem cell-derived neurons and host neurons.We reasoned that embryonic stem cells must be induced into theappropriate state to differentiate correctly in the host brain as hasbeen demonstrated for retinal and spinal cord motor neurons(Wichterle et al., 2002; Lamba et al., 2009). During development,presumptive cortical NPCs receive inductive signals from the de-finitive endoderm and Hensens node as early as gastrulation

(Beddington and Robertson, 1998; Stern, 2005). Guided by thedevelopmental principles of normal development, we reasonedthat neural induction of ES cells that resulted in NPCs with fea-

tures of cortical progenitors would be needed for transplantationsince after the animal is born many of these inductive signals are nolonger present.Additionally,the induced-ESneurons should not beso mature that they can no longer respond to the local environ-ment. Therefore, a neural induction method that recapitulatesthe state of neural precursors during early cortical developmentand limits the number of tumor-producing cells should providethe optimal source of transplantable cells.

In vitro characterization of ES-NPCs and mature neuronsTwo methods to neuralize ES cells have gained popularity: reti-noic acid neural induction, involving the formation of EB-NPCs,and a feeder layer-dependent method (coculture with the MS5

stromal cell line) that mimics organizing principles used duringdevelopment to generate neural precursors (MS5-NPCs). Thefirst method is loosely based on previous observations that EScells tend to default into a neural lineage at low density and willform aggregates of cells enriched for neural progenitor cells(Tropepe et al., 2001). In a recent adaptation, ES cells are allowedto proliferate in suspension without LIF, forming small spheres ofcells in 4 d. Addition of retinoic acid for an additional 4 d differ-entiates the cells toward a neural precursor lineage (Bibel et al.,2004). A less well characterized induction method involves plat-ing dissociated ES cells on a confluent layer of MS5 cells. After 6 dof coculture, large colonies of ES-derived neural precursor cellswere observed. Few cells within the colonies expressed Oct3/4, an

ES cell marker (Fig. 1A, D), whereas the majority of the cells(80%) expressed the proliferative marker nestin (Fig. 1 B, E). Ap-proximately 30% of the cells within the colonies expressed -III

Figure 1. Time courseof EScell neuralinduction with MS5coculture.AF,ColoniesofEScellsgrownonMS5cellsfor6dwereimmunostained for Oct3/4 and GFP (A, D), nestin and GFP (B, E), and TuJ1 and GFP (C, F). The colony in A shows rare Oct3/4-expressing cells (arrow). Over an 8 d time period, colonies were dissociated and plated for 2 h before staining and counting.G, RC2 immunostaining of cells dissociated on day 6. H, Nestin immunostaining of day 6 dissociated cells. I, Time course ofimmunostaining for Oct3/4-, SSEA1-, Nestin-, NCAM-, TuJ1-, and NeuN-positive cells as a percentage of total DAPI-stained cells.Note that Oct3/4 and SSEA1 both decrease to near zero by day 6. Scale bars: AF, 100m; G, H, 20m.

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tubulin (TuJ1), an early marker for neurons (Fig. 1C,F). Thevast majority of the colonies did not contain any Oct3/4-

positive cells, suggesting that these MS5-derived neural cellswould result in a low frequency of tumor formation aftertransplantation.

To characterize the dynamics of neural patterning on the MS5stromal cells, cultured ES cells were removed from the MS5feeder layer, dissociated, and immunostained, over an 8 d timecourse. The majority of cells express nestin and RC2, a radialglial/neural progenitor marker (Fig. 1G,H) (80% of total cells).Oct3/4- and stage-specific embryonic antigen-1 (SSEA-1)-positive cells, which are thought to underlie teratoma formation(Morizane et al., 2006), rapidly decreased to nearly zero (Fig. 1 I).Also, nestin-positive cells increased dramatically during the first5 d of culture, plateaued, and then started to decrease as other

mature progeny, expressing neuronal markers such as neural celladhesion molecule (NCAM), -III tubulin (TuJ1), and neuronalnuclei (NeuN) started to represent a greater percentage of cells

(Fig. 1 I). For subsequent experiments, wechose day 6 or 7 of coculture because ofthe greatest percentage of nestin-positivecells, indicative of a neural stem cell, andthe number of potentially tumor-formingOct 3/4- and SSEA1-positive cells is min-imal. EB-NPCs were used at day 8 as a

comparator (Bibel et al., 2004).We next examined the potential ofthese MS5-NPCs to differentiate into moremature classes of cells such as neurons andglia.The ES cultures were induced as above,dissociated, andfurtherdifferentiatedforanadditional 7 d on coated slides in Neuro-basal before immunohistochemistry pro-cessing. Interestingly, more immatureprogenitor-like cells expressing nestin andRC2 were seen in the EB-NPC populationthan the MS5-NPC population ( p 0.001 for nestin and RC2) (Fig. 2I), sug-gesting that maturation of EB-NPCs intoneurons is less effective and may explainthe propensity of these cells to form tu-mors on transplantation. These nestin-and RC2-positive cells typically occurredin clusters,suggesting that they arose fromclones (Fig. 2A, E). Moreover, no tumorformation was evident in three animalstransplanted with MS5-NPCs that wereallowed to survive for 12 months. In con-trast, EB-NPC-transplanted animals typi-cally had evidence of tumors by 3 months(six of six animals at 3 months). The twomajor glial subtypes, astrocytes and oligo-

dendrocytes, were nearly absent fromboth conditions, but a fewclones emergedin the MS5 condition. The two markersused to distinguish mature neurons, TuJ1and MAP2, did not show a difference be-tween the two conditions and represented70% of the total cell population, sug-gesting that the major cell type generatedis a neuronal derivative (Fig. 2 B, F,I). Thepercentage of glutamatergic (80%) andGABAergic neurons (20%) appear to be

similar in both conditioning methods.Two gene markers that distinguish subcortical projection

neurons from other classes of cortical pyramidal neurons wereexamined. Interestingly, both MS5 (60% of cells) and EB (41%of cells) induced neurons expressed Ctip2, a transcriptionalrepressor that is required for the manifestation of subcorticalaxons in mice (Arlotta et al., 2005) (Fig. 2C,G). Although astatistical difference was noted (Fig. 2 I) ( p 0.001), the highfrequency in both populations made it unlikely to be of bio-logical significance.

The most prominent difference between the two populations ofcells is the absence of Otx1 expression in the EB-NPC population.Otx1 is a transcription factor that has been implicated in telenceph-alon development andis highlyexpressed in theclassof layer5 neu-ronsthatproject to subcortical targets (Frantz et al., 1994; Weimann

et al., 1999). Nearly 50% of the MS5-NPC-differentiated cells ex-pressed Otx1, whereas we did not observe any Otx1 expression inEB-NPC-generated neurons (Fig. 2D,H,I). These results suggest

Figure 2. MS5-NPCs but not EB-NPCs generate cortical pyramidal neurons in vitro.AD, Immunostaining of day 6 MS5-NPCsafteranadditional7dofdifferentiationintomaturecellsonpolyornithine/fibronectin(OF)-coatedslides.EH,Immunostainingofday 8 EB generated NPCs after an additional 7 d of differentiation on OF-coated slides.A, E, Nestin. B, F, MAP2. C, G, Ctip2. D, H,Otx1.Note,in H,noOtx1stainingofEB-NPCs.Scalebar,25m. I,FrequencydistributionofseveralneuralmarkersasapercentageoftotalDAPIstainedcells in7 d neuronaldifferentiation cultureson OFslides aftereither MS5or EBNPC induction(N 5)(Nestin,

RC2,Ctip2, Otx1,p 0.001;GFAP,p 0.004;TuJ1, MAP2,and CNPase, no difference). Errorbars indicate SD.J,RT-PCRprofileoffivegenesexpressedinembryoniccortex(E14brain)aswellasMS5-NPCs/matureneuronsbutnotexpressedinEB-generatedNPCsorneurons(N4).CoupTFis anexampleof 10genesthatareexpressed inbothconditioning protocols. Reelinis anexampleof 11genes expressed in all cells (supplemental Table S1, available at www.jneurosci.org as supplemental material).



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that the preconditioning regimen can fun-damentally alter the fate of the resultingneural precursors.

The expression of 34 genes known tobe expressed in the brain were comparedby reverse transcription (RT)-PCR to de-termine whether other gene products in

addition to Otx1 were differentially ex-pressed in the two populations of cells(supplemental Table S1, available at www.jneurosci.org as supplemental material)as several transcription factors are re-quired for correct corticofugal projections(Arlotta et al., 2005; Chen et al., 2005;Molyneaux et al., 2005). Many of thegenes evaluated were detectable at allstages of differentiation [e.g., in ES cells,embryonic day 14 cortex (E14 brain), day7 MS5-NPCs, day 8 EB-NPCs,as wellas inday 7 differentiated cultures of neuronsfrom MS5 and EB neural precursors (D14MS5 neuron and D15 EB neuron)]. Six-teen of the genes, as exemplified byCOUP-TF, were expressed in E14 brain aswell as both neural-induced ES cells. Ofinterest were five genes that were ex-pressed in E14brain, MS5-induced NPCs,and MS5-derived neurons but were notexpressed in EB-inducedcultures at eitherthe stage of NPCs or more terminally dif-ferentiated neuron (Fig. 2J). All fivegenes, Otx1, Emx1, Fezf2, Fez, and FoxG1,are known to play a role in forebrain de-velopment or axon guidance, and we

hypothesized that this difference in pat-terning is likely to generate cortical projection neurons.

MS5-induced neurons project axons to subcorticalbrain structuresDeep layer neurons (layers V and VI) of sensory/motor cortexextend a robust axon tract to spatially distinct subcortical brainstructures such as the thalamus, colliculus, pons, and spinal cord.We exploited this fact to test whether the different in vitro neuralpatterning methods would generate ES-derived neurons withthe capability to extend axons to subcortical areas and thusfulfill a criterion for an important class of a cortical pyramidal

neuron.When 5000 dissociated EB-NPCs were transplanted into thecortex of postnatal mice, they further differentiated into matureneurons with elaborate dendrites and axons (Fig. 3A). GFP ex-pression can be accentuated by histological staining with a GFPantibody and HRP/DAB reaction. The DAB precipitate appearsgolden brown when viewed with dark-field optics. Individualaxons can be readily observed even at low magnification (Fig.3A). Although these neurons project axons extensively to othercortical areas, we observed very few axons entering the internalcapsule, which is the primary route for axon invasion of subcor-tical targets (11.0 11.6 axons per a transplanted hemisphere)(Fig. 3A, C). This suggests that, although the embryoid body

retinoic acid method of neural induction generates neurons, veryfew expressed this critical phenotype of a subcortical projectingcortical pyramidal neuron.

We next examined NPCs generated from coculture with theMS5 stromal cell line. After transplantation of the same numberof MS5-NPCs, the differentiated neurons projected profuse bun-dles of fasciculated axons through the striatum and into the in-ternal capsule (Fig. 3B). Hundreds of axons were seen extendingalong axon tracts in the striatum and converging in the internalcapsule in this section (Fig. 3D). In fact, so many axons wereobserved that counting was impractical. These axons continuedto subcortical targets such as the thalamus, pons, superior col-liculus, and the spinal cord. These results suggest that there was asignificant difference in the fate of the induced neurons usingthese two methods with mesodermal induction providing critical

anterior neurectodermal patterning that is missing in the morepopular direct EB-NPC induction methods.

MS5-NPCs differentiate into cortical pyramidal neurons aftertransplantation: local neuronal morphologyAlthough in vitro differentiation and marker expression has beenconsidered adequate for determining neuronal specification, wesought tomorestringently testcell fate decisions bytransplanting theES-derived NPCs into the cortex and evaluating the anatomical ar-chitecture of the resultant neurons. Cortical pyramidal neurons ex-hibit several distinguishing characteristics suchas an apical dendritethat extends toward the pial surface and basal dendrites that branchprofusely mainly within their resident layer (Larsen and Callaway,

2006).Wesought to determine whetherthetransplanted ES-derivedneurons possessed the dendritic structure of the major classes ofcortical neurons (Koester and OLeary, 1992).

Figure 3. MS5preconditioned ES-derived neurons project axons to subcortical areas. GFP ES cell-derived NPCswere transplantedintocortexofP2mice.AtP14,animalswerekilled,andbrainswereprocessed;GFP axonsandsomataaregoldenbrownbecauseoftheDABreactionproduct.A,TransplantationofEB-NPCsintomotorcortex.Manymatureneuronsareformedbutonlyafewextendaxonsintotheinternalcapsule(IC)(N22).HC,Hippocampus. B,TransplantationofMS5-NPCsintomotorcortex.AtP14,manymatureneuronsareformedandextendaxonsintotheinternalcapsule(IC),thalamus(Th)(arrow),andcerebralpeduncle(CP)(arrow)(N48).C,High-powerimageofboxedareainA,showingonlytwoaxonsprojectingintoIC(arrows)inthissection.Atotalof11.011.6axonsperatransplantedhemisphere was observed (78 sections). D, High-power image of theboxedareain B; hundreds of axons areapparentin fasciculatedbundlesenteringthe IC (arrow).Scalebars:A,B,1mm; C,D,100m.



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Most injection sites consisted of a bolus of cells that were tightlypacked together and as a population extended dendrites toward thepial surface, which made it difficult to distinguish and recon-struct individual GFP neurons (Fig. 4A, B). However, sometransplanted cells migrated away from theinjection site anddiffer-entiated in the parenchyma (Fig. 4A,B, arrows). In most animals,510 pyramidal neurons could be found at a distance from theinjection site so that their dendritic and to some extent local axonalstructure could be discerned. We also examined these cells for evi-dence of cell fusion between transplanted GFP cells and host neu-rons andruled outthe possibility of rare fusionevents toaccount forthese observations (supplemental Fig. S1, available at www.

jneurosci.org as supplemental material). Several features of deeplayer cortical pyramidal neurons were apparent in these cells. First,these cells extendeda primaryapical dendrite toward thepialsurface

asexemplifiedinFigure4C,inwhichaMS5-NPC-derived layer 5 pyramidal neuron isshown in bright field (left) and camera lu-cida (right). The large apical dendrite ex-tends to and branches in layers 1 and 2,whereas the basal dendrites branch pro-fusely in layer 5. In other cortical areas, this

apical dendrite is seen in layers 2 and 3 neu-rons (Fig. 4D) as well as layer 6 neurons.These dendrites all have another character-istic of cortical pyramidal neurons, namely,synaptic spines protruding from the den-drites (Fig. 4C,D). The manifestation ofdendritic spines suggests that these ES-derived neurons are synaptically connectedto other glutamatergic neurons in the cor-tex. Interestingly, we did not observe manyGFP-axon onto GFP-synaptic spine con-nections, which suggests thatthe majority ofthese presumptive presynaptic connectionsare between host neurons and transplantedES-derived neurons. Although all of theMS5-derived pyramidal neurons pos-sessed synaptic spines, they appeared at alower density than wild-type layer 5 and 6pyramidal neurons. We have not beenable to completely reconstruct the localaxonal morphology of these cells becauseof the profuse axons from the adjacent in-jection bolus.

Neurons generated by the EB methodalso produced pyramidal-shaped neu-rons after transplantation into the cor-tex (Fig. 4 E, F). In striking contrast to

pyramidal neurons described after MS5neural induction, we have not observedany cells bearing synaptic spines (0 of 50pyramidal-shaped EB-neurons) (Fig.4 E,F). These results suggest that, al-though the EB neural induction met-hod can generate neurons that havepyramidal-shaped somata, these neu-rons do not have synaptic spines and areunlikely to be authentic cortical gluta-matergic neurons.

Specific axonal targeting of

MS5-derived neuronsLayer 5 tufted pyramidal neurons from cortical regions subserv-ing sensory, motor, and visual functions project to specific, non-overlapping subcortical targets. If ES cells have successfullydifferentiated into fully competent cortical pyramidal neurons,they should project differentially to subcortical targets contin-gent on the cortical area in which they are transplanted. Since theutilization of postnatal recipient mice allows specific targeting tovisual, sensory, and motor cortex, we assessed axonal targeting ofMS5-NPC cells after selective placement in these areas (Fig. 5A).After transplantation of ES-derived NPCs into either the visual,somatosensory, or motor cortex, we counted the number of ax-ons in the pons, pyramidal decussation, and the spinal tract at

approximately C3C4 (Fig. 5B). When MS5-NPCs are trans-planted into the visual cortex, a robust projection of axons can beobserved in the pons (Fig. 5A, B,E), which has been reported for

Figure 4. ES-derived neurons acquire mature cortical pyramidal neuron morphology after transplantation. A, Parasagittalsection of a P21 brain showing injection site of GFP-expressing MS5-NPCs in the deep layers of visual cortex. The arrows point toneurons that have migrated from the injection site into the parenchyma. wm, White matter; HC, hippocampus. B, Camera lucidadrawing of injection site showing bolus of cells at the injection site and dispersed neurons around the injection. C, GFP-labeledMS5-NPC-derived layer5 pyramidal neuronin somatosensory cortex with camera lucidadrawing (dendritesin blue;axon in red).The apical dendrite (arrowhead) is found in the adjacent section. D, GFP-labeled MS5-NPC-derived layer 3 neuron in pyriformcortex. E, F,GFP-labeledEB-NPC-generatedneuronsinlayer2/3(E)andlayer5(F).Arrowhead,Basaldirectedaxon.Arrow,Apicaldendrite. C , D , Dendrites from Cand Dshowing synaptic spines (arrowheads). E , F , Dendrites from Eand Fshowing lack ofsynaptic spines. Scale bars:A, B, 1 mm; C, DF, 100m; C , 5m;D , E , F , 10m.



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Figure5. ES-derivedneurons axonalprojectionto ponsand spinal cordis corticalareal specific.A, Diagramshowingareal-specificaxonalprojectionpatternof layer 5 neuronsin motor cortex(MC)(green),somatosensory cortex(SSC) (blue), andvisual cortex(VC)(red). Camera lucidacomposite drawing from seven to nine sections of MS5-NPC axons from cells transplanted into VC(B),SSC(C),andMC(D). E,Enumerationof axonsat thepons,pyramidaldecussation(PD),andspinaltractmarkedbybarandasteriskinB.No differencewas observedbetweenVC andSSCtransplants,whereasMCcellsshowedmoreaxonstoallthreelocations(ANOVA,p0.001) (supplementalTableS2, availableat www.jneurosci.orgas supplementalmaterial).FI,AxonsfromMCtransplantinvadethepons( F),thepyramidaltract(Pyrtract)(G),crossthemidlineatthepyramidaldecussation(H),anddescendthespinalcord(Sptract)(I).(Axonsaregoldinappearance;arrowpointtoaxons.)ErrorbarsindicateSD.Scalebars:F,100m;G, I,250m;H, 10m.IC, Internalcapsule;PnO,pontinereticular nucleus;SpC, spinal cord.



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Figure 6. ES-derived neurons project axonsto appropriateareas of superior colliculus.AC, Axon projections in theSC fromMS5-NPCs transplantedintothe motor cortex(MC), somatosensory

cortex(SSC),and visualcortex (VC).DF, Enlargement ofAC.GI,CameralucidadrawingofentireSCfromAC, respectively. Notethat axonsfrom visualcortex project preferentiallyto dorsalSC

(I;layersIIII),whereasaxonsfromsomatosensorycortexprojectmainlytoventralSC( H;VVII).J, Distributionof counted axonscrossingthemidpointof dorsalor ventral SC(L,bars).Thediagonal

line represents random distribution. VC, Red diamonds (I points to brain in I); SSC, blue squares (H); and MC, green circles (G). EB-NPCs rarely extend axons into SC (orange diamond;

K, L).Number ofaxonsin ventral SCwas subtracted from dorsalSC, anda one-wayANOVA used ( p 0.0001)(supplementalTable S3, available at www.jneurosci.orgas supplemental material).

K, L, EB-NPC transplant into SSC (K) or VC (L). Scale bars:AC, 500m;DF, 100m.



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endogenous axons from normal visual cortex. Very few axonswere observed in the pyramidal tract, fewer in the pyramidaldecussation, and only a total of three axons was seen in the spinalcords of eight animals examined.

MS5-NPCs transplanted into the somatosensory cortex ex-tended axons into the pons with the same frequency as the visualcortex transplants but in addition extended axons into the pyra-

midal tract. Many more axons were observed in the pyramidaldecussation and even a few in the spinal tract (Fig. 5A, C,E). Themost dramatic finding was that axonsextendingfrom MS5-NPCstransplanted into the motor cortex were able to pathfind to thepons (Fig. 5A, DF), through the pyramidal tract (Fig. 5G), crossover to the contralateral spinal tract via the pyramidal decussa-tion (Fig. 5H), and descend into the descending spinal tract as faras C4, the limit of our dissections (Fig. 5I). Thus, the axon pro-jection pattern of transplanted MS5-NPCs in the different cor-tical areas recapitulated normal development and circuitry ina cortical area-specific manner.

In contrast, when EB-NPCs were transplanted into the visual,somatosensory, or motor cortices, only a few axons were ob-served as far caudal as the pons. None were seen in the pyramidaldecussation or spinal cord. Even though these neurons had manyof the characteristics of cortical neurons, their axons failed tonavigate to correct subcortical targets.

The superior colliculus receives axons from the visual andsomatosensory cortices and very few axons from the motor cor-tex. Layer V neurons from visual cortex extend axons to the mostsuperficial layers of the super colliculus, whereas axons from thesomatosensory cortex target the ventral layers of the SC (Dragerand Hubel, 1976). Remarkably, we found that projections werevery appropriate. After transplantation of MS5-NPCs into thevisual cortex,90% of axons projecting to the SC were found inthe dorsal layers IIII of the superior colliculus and avoided thedeeper layers of SC (Fig. 6C, F, I). Conversely, cells transplanted

into the somatosensory area extended axons predominately intothe ventral aspect of the SC (Fig. 6 B, E,H). Consistent with thecorrect area-specific projection patterns, cells transplanted intothe motor cortex mostly avoided the SC (Fig. 6A, D,G). Someaxons were observed in ventral SC and are consistent with theheterogeneous natureof motor andsomatosensory regions in therodent cortex. A sampling of the number of axons within thedorsaland ventral SC foreach animalis plotted, with thediagonalline representing random distribution (Fig. 6J). Thus, axonsfrom visual cortex transplants (red diamonds) project to the dor-sal SC while avoiding the ventral aspect (n 6; p 0.001).Somatosensory cells (blue squares) preferentially project to theventral SC,but some axons were observed in thedorsal SC (n5;

p 0.001). The cells from motor cortex (green circles) projectedsparse axons randomly to both the dorsal and ventral SC ( n 6;NS). Only 2 of 18 animals transplanted with EB-NPCs had axonsin the SC, and these few axons did not show a preference fordorsal or ventral SC (Fig. 6JL).

These results strongly suggest that the ES cells differentiatedon MS5cells produced neurons that canrespond appropriately tolocal cues within the cortex and as part of their differentiationprogram project axons to the correct subcortical targets, includ-ing the descending corticospinal tract.

In summary, these data show that ES cells preconditionedwith MS5stromal cells can lead to theneural inductionof corticalpyramidal neurons. When these MS5-NPCs were transplanted

into the cerebral cortex, they acquired the morphological pheno-type characteristic of the particular cortical area in which theymatured by sending long-distance axons to appropriate subcor-

tical targets. Of particular clinical interest (ALS and spinal cordinjury) is that these ES-derived pyramidal neurons were capableof growing axons into the descending corticospinal tract.

DiscussionDevelopmental programs expose stem and progenitor cells to acomplex pattern of spatial and temporal cues, the timing and

location of which critically regulate cell fate and function. In theCNS, rostral-caudal and dorsal-ventral patterning specifies bothneuronal transmitter subtype and projection patterns of the de-veloping neurons. This fine spatial patterning ultimately definesfunction. Although several previous studies have documentedthat ES cells, conditioned in various ways, can differentiate intogeneric neurons in the cortex and hippocampus after transplan-tation, it has been difficult to evaluate whether these cells werecorrectly patterned to connect and function appropriately fortheir location (Muotri et al., 2005; Eiraku et al., 2008; Gaspard etal., 2008). Without such evidence, it is difficult to evaluate theutility of a given approach or the potentialfor using these cells forreplacement strategies, especially in the clinical sphere, in whichinappropriate connectivity can lead to suboptimal outcomes.Here, we show that in vitro patterning of ES cells is a criticalvariable in generating specific neuronal subtypes and that ES cellscan be induced to become cortical projection neurons thatproject long-distance axons to appropriate subcortical targets.We suggest that the MS5 neural induction method specifies theES cells to a neural precursor state that resembles early corticalprogenitors at approximatelyembryonic day 1213 and on trans-plantation local cues within the developing cortex further specifythe cells to become areal-specific cortical neurons as has beensuggested by heterotopic transplantation studies (OLeary et al.,1995).

Connectivity: an important feature of neurons

What are the most important attributes of a neuron? Althoughgene expression and somata shape have been used as a proxy forneuron specification, it is the connections among neurons thatare their defining characteristic and are obligatory to producerelevant behaviors. During embryonic development, neuronsfrom sensory/motor areas project a major axon toward the spinalcord and sprout exuberant collaterals to several target areas thatare later pruned to the final adult pattern (OLeary and Koester,1993). We chose a time point, postnatal week 23, when thefinal adult axonal pattern is well established to minimize theconfounding process of refinement of exuberant projections.This raises an interesting point of whether the transplanted ES-derived neurons also project to multiple subcortical areas and

then refine their axons in an areal-specific manner. Analysis atdifferent time points may reveal that ES-derived neurons re-capitulate this developmental behavior.

It is interesting to note that, although the extensive GFP

axonal projections observed in the periaqueductal gray matter(PAG) of the central gray of the midbrain (Fig. 6) is not whatwould be expected from neurons within the motor/sensory cor-tices, there are two possible explanations that can account forthese apparently mistargeted axons. First, these axons may beattributable to aberrant targeting of axon collaterals from trans-planted neurons from motor/sensory cortex. However, equallycompelling, is thepossibilitythat theGFP axons observed in thePAG may be from a subset of induced ES-derived neurons with

characteristics of frontal agranular cortex and that they are faith-fully projecting axons to their correct subcortical target. Studiesin rodents demonstrate a class of layer 5 neurons from the



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agranular frontal cortex (orbital, insular, prelimbic, and anteriorcingulated cortices)that project axons to thecentral gray area andmediate behaviors such as analgesia, aversion, and reward(Hardy and Leichnetz, 1981; Reep et al., 1987). Future experi-ments using retrograde tracer to highlight which cells project toeach subcortical location will be need to resolve this question.

Understanding the dynamics of ES-derived axon pathfinding

and guidance will have clinical implications since the trans-planted cells must be capable of following already establishedpathways in adults. Placing cortical explants of embryonic cortexinto damaged adult motor cortex has revealed that some trans-planted neurons can extend axons into the spinal cord, suggest-ing that even in the adult CNS new axons can grow very longdistances (Gaillard et al., 2007), and is encouraging for the pros-pects of using ES-NPCs in adults.

Synaptic spines are a prominent characteristic of cortical py-ramidal neurons. Althougha smallpopulation of corticothalamicand corticostriatal pyramidal neurons has been reported to lackspines, the vast majority manifest a profusion of spines alongtheir dendrites (Gao and Zheng,2004; Hattoxand Nelson, 2007).As we have seen here with EB-derived neurons, others havealso reported ES-derived neurons with morphologies reminis-cent of cortical projection neurons, but it was interesting thatonly neurons differentiated from MS5-NPCs exhibited prom-inent synaptic spines on their dendritesthat are critical hallmarksof connectivity within cortical neural networks. The observationthat the EB-NPC-produced neurons didnot have spines and veryfew subcortical projectingaxons suggests that the EB-neuronsarenot bona fide cortical pyramidal neurons as well as strongly indi-cating that previous in vitro fate specification is required for neu-rons to become cortical pyramidal neurons.

Gene expression profile of MS5-induced NPCs and neuronsWe found 5 of 34 forebrain genes that were differentially ex-

pressed in MS5-NPCs when compared with EB-NPCs. Fez is nothighly expressed in the cortex and may represent a different sub-population of neurons (Hirata et al., 2006). Emx1, Otx1, andFoxG1 are expressed in the developing cortex and have roles inearly neurogenesis (Frantz et al., 1994; Weimann et al., 1999;Bishop et al., 2003; Hanashima et al., 2007). The observation thatthese three genes are not expressed in EB-NPCs supports ourcontention that the embryoid body/RA neural induction methoddoes not produce cortical pyramidal neurons. Notably, Fezf2 isexpressed in subcortical projection neurons and null mice showdisrupted subcortical axon projections and completely fail toproject axons to the spinal cord (Chen et al., 2005; Molyneaux etal., 2005).

Rather unexpectedly, we found that the gene, Ctip2, which has avery similar phenotype to Fezf2 (Arlotta et al., 2005) and is thoughtto act downstream ofFezf2 during cortical development (Leone etal., 2008), was expressed in both NPC populations. However, ex-pression of Ctip2 in the EB-NPC-induced neurons was insufficientfor the establishment of subcortical axons, suggesting that othergenes acting in concert are necessary. Gain/loss of function experi-ments in ES cells and neural induction in this system may provideinsightsinto howthese genesinteract andwhether othergene prod-ucts are required, highlighting the utility of using ES cells to dissectpathways in developmental neurobiology.

Interestingly, the MS5-induced ES cells did not form tu-mors even 1 year after transplantation, in contrast to the em-

bryoid body method in which small to large tumor wereobserved after only 3 months. This may reflect the more differ-entiated nature of theMS5-induced NPCs as evident by the lower

frequency of nestin and RC2immunoreactivity in these cells after1 week of differentiation in vitro.

A previous report has demonstrated a method using the SonicHedgehog antagonist cyclopamine that neuralized ES cells to-ward a cortical pyramidal fate (Gaspard et al., 2008). These ES-derived neurons projected axons to targets of visual cortexregardless of where in the cortex the cells were transplanted.

Thus, cells transplanted into the motor cortex projected axons tovisual subcortical targets and never to the spinal cord. One expla-nation for this observation is that the neuralizing method used inthis report specified all of the neurons toward a visual cortex fateand the differentiating neurons behaved as if they were visualcortical neurons regardless of site of transplantation. Alterna-tively, this method may have specified many features of corticalneurons but not the crucial phenotype of correct and areal-specific axonal projection.

Implication for clinical studiesEstablishing appropriate connectivity of transplanted neuronswill constitute an essential element of any successful neuronalreplacement strategy. Previous studies have demonstrated that itis possible to establish such connections with tissue grafts butaccomplishing this on a large scale with dissociated cells (whichrepresents a more clinically feasible approach) has not been pre-viously documented. Therefore, the demonstration that this ef-fect occurs after preconditioning ES cells (which theoretically atleast canbe produced in large quantities) on a stromal layer and isa result of expression of a limited subset of genes suggests that itshouldbe possible to develop methods for additional enrichmentof these cell populations.

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