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. 2021 Jun 21;144(5):1312–1335. doi: 10.1093/brain/awab048

Table 2.

Stem cell differentiation protocols for human sensory neurons/nociceptors and their use in modelling painful pathologies

Original cells Resulting cellsa Exogenous factors Disease modelling Reference
Direct induction
Fibroblasts (mouse/human) Nociceptive sensory neurons (iNoc) Ascl1, Myt1l, Ngn1, Isl1, Klf7 Familial dysautonomia Wainger et al.100
Fibroblasts Induced peripheral sensory neurons (iSNs) Brn3a, Ngn1 or Ngn2 Blanchard et al.101
IPSC protocols
IPSCs (or ESCs) IPSC-derived nociceptors OKSM factors, LDN19318, SB431542, CHIR99021, SU5402, DAPT, Y27632, EGF, FGF, NTFs (Chamber’s protocol) Chambers et al.102
Migraine Pettingill et al.103
IPSCs IPSC-derived nociceptors Chamber’s protocol + minor modifications IEM Meents et al.104
IPSCs IPSC-derived nociceptors Chamber’s protocol + minor modifications Small fibre neuropathy Namer et al.105
IPSCs IPSC-derived nociceptors Chamber’s protocol + minor modifications CIP McDermott et al.106
IPSCs IPSC-derived peripheral sensory neurons Chamber’s protocol + minor modifications Varicella-zoster virus infection Lee et al.107
IPSCs (from PBMCs) IPSC-derived peripheral sensory neurons Chamber’s protocol + minor modifications IEM Cao et al.108
IPSCs IPSC-derived peripheral sensory neurons Chamber’s protocol + minor modifications Remyelination therapy Cai et al.109
IPSCs (from PBMCs) IPSC-derived peripheral sensory neurons Chamber’s protocol + minor modifications IEM Mis et al.110
IPSCs IPSC-derived peripheral sensory mechanoreceptors Chamber’s protocol + minor modifications Guimarães et al.111
IPSCs IPSC-derived proprioceptive neurons Chamber’s protocol + minor modifications Afferent ataxia Dionisi et al.112
IPSCs IPSC-derived trigeminal neurons Chamber’s protocol + minor modifications HSV-1 infection Zimmer et al.113
IPSCs Peripheral mechanoreceptors OKSM factors, NTFs Schrenk-Siemens et al.114
IPSCs NC-iSN mechanosensory neurons OKSM factors, Y27632, SB431542, Brn3a, Ngn2, NTFs Piezo2 channelopathy Nickolls et al.115
IPSCs IPSC-NCd sensory neurons Noggin, LDN193189, SB431542, Y27632, NTFs Umehara et al.116
ESC/other protocols
hEPI-NCSC Peptidergic nociceptive Sensory neurons SHH, CHIR99021, LDN193189, DAPT, HGF, NTFs Wilson et al.117
iNPCs Peripheral sensory neurons (iSNs) LDN193189, SB431542, CHIR9902, DAPT, SU5402, NTFs Chemotherapy-induced neuropathy Vojnits et al.118
ESCs Peripheral sensory neurons LDN193189, SB431542, CHIR9902, DAPT, SU5402, Y27632, NTFs Peripheral nerve injury Jones et al.119
ESCs Peripheral sensory neurons SB431542, CHIR9902, BMP2, Y27632, NTFs Alshawaf et al.120

A substantial number of IPSC protocols are largely based on Chambers et al.102 and have since undergone small modifications; for protocol adaptation refer to each original publication. CIP = congenital insensitivity to pain; ESC = embryonic stem cell; hEPI-NCSC = human epidermal neural crest stem cells; iNPC = induced neural progenitor cells; iSNs = induced sensory neurons; NCd = neural crest-derived; NC-iSN = neural crest derived induced sensory neurons; NTF = neurotrophic factors; PBMCs = peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

a

Note that ‘Resulting cells’ is the nomenclature used by each original publication.