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Updated: Jul 17, 2026
Neuronal Differentiation from Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells In vitro
Published on: June 2, 2020
A Potential Excitability Was Induced by Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor during Early Differentiation of Neurons from
Zhang Enming1, Chen Liangqiang, Yang Yi
1Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Zhejiang University, Zheda Road 38, 310027 Hangzhou, China.
Abstract:
We report that basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) induces the release of glutamate in ES-derived neurons during early stages of differentiation. Changes of Ca2+concentration labeled by fluorescence intensity occurred in response to minimal concentrations of glutamate. The Ca2+concentration was changed more rapidly by bFGF than by glutamate during the early stages of differentiation of ES-derived neurons. High concentrations of the inhibitor MK801, a N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist applied before bFGF stimulation caused a dramatic decrease of fluorescence intensity in neurons derived from both hippocampal and ES cells. These results showed that bFGF induces glutamate release and an increase of [Ca2+] in neurons during early stages of differentiation, and that the increase of [Ca2+] can be inhibited by MK801. Therefore, we concluded that bFGF serves not only as a neurotrophin but also as a stimulator of excitability during the differentiation of ES cells into neurons.
