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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Nov 3.
Published in final edited form as: Cell Stem Cell. 2016 Nov 3;19(5):573–586. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2016.10.015

Figure 3. Using opposing mitogens to enrich the neural progenitor population.

Figure 3

A. To enrich the neural progenitors from the pMN domain in the spinal cord, a high concentration of SHH or Purmorphamine (SHH signalling agonist) is employed to induce the OLIG2+ and the more ventral NKX2.2+ progenitors. Since the more ventral NKX2.2+ cells give rise to interneurons rather than motor neurons, CHIR (activate the WNT pathway) is used to antagonize the effect of SHH in induction of NKX2.2 but not OLIG2, leading to the enrichment of the OLIG2+ progenitors. Such a strategy enables generation of highly enriched population of spinal motor neurons. B. To enrich LGE progenitors and striatal GABA neurons, forebrain NE are ventralized to the LGE and MGE domains. At the same time, the most ventral MGE domain is antagonized by activin (on the BMP pathway). Together, the opposing morphogens restrict the cells to the LGE domain, thus producing enriched striatal GABA neurons.