Functional properties of in vitro excitatory cortical neurons derived from human pluripotent stem cells

The in vitro derivation of regionally defined human neuron types from patient-derived stem cells is now established as a resource to investigate human development and disease. Characterization of such neurons initially focused on the expression of developmentally regulated transcription factors and neural markers, in conjunction with the development of protocols to direct and chart the fate of differentiated neurons. However, crucial to the understanding and exploitation of this technology is to determine the degree to which neurons recapitulate the key functional features exhibited by their native counterparts, essential for determining their usefulness in modelling human physiology and disease in vitro. Here, we review the emerging data concerning functional properties of human pluripotent stem cell-derived excitatory cortical neurons, in the context of both maturation and regional specificity.