Figure 12.

Expression of presynaptic (synapsin-1, synaptobrevin-2, synaptophysin) and postsynaptic (neuroligin-1 and PSD-95) marker mRNAs in 46C ESCs, NEPs, and NSCs normalized to the expression of the housekeeping gene β-actin (A–C) (2^ΔCt) and the expression in whole mouse brain (D–F) (2^ΔΔCt). (A,D) Expression in ESCs. (B,E) Expression in NEPs. (C,F) Expression in NSCs. ESCs weakly express pre- and postsynaptic markers at the mRNA level. The expression of synaptic markers is then continuously upregulated upon differentiation into NEPs and NSCs. Data represent mean ± s.e.m.; n = 5–6 independent experiments. Note that statistical differences in the expression of markers were only calculated between ESCs/NEPs, and NEPs/NSCs, respectively, not between ESCs/NSCs, since ESCs cannot differentiate into NSCs without differentiating into NEPs first. Between ESCs/NEPs and NEPs/NSCs, no significant differences were found by One-Way ANOVA followed by Tukey's multiple comparison post-hoc test.