Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Direct Motor Pathways

Direct Motor Pathways

The direct motor pathways, also known as the pyramidal tracts, are a group of neural pathways that originate in the brain and descend through the spinal cord. They control the voluntary movement of the body. There are two major direct motor pathways: the corticospinal and the corticobulbar tracts.
The corticospinal tract is responsible for the voluntary movement of the limbs and trunk. It originates in the cerebral cortex of the brain and descends through the cerebrum's internal capsule and...

What is an Electrochemical Gradient?

What is an Electrochemical Gradient?

Adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, is considered the primary energy source in cells. However, energy can also be stored in the electrochemical gradient of an ion across the plasma membrane, which is determined by two factors: its chemical and electrical gradients.
The chemical gradient relies on differences in the abundance of a substance on the outside versus the inside of a cell and flows from areas of high to low ion concentration. In contrast, the electrical gradient revolves around an...

Energy Line and Hydraulic Gradient Line

Energy Line and Hydraulic Gradient Line

Based on Bernoulli's equation, the energy line (EL) and hydraulic grade line (HGL) provide graphical representations of energy distribution in a fluid flow system. For steady, incompressible, inviscid flows, Bernoulli's equation is expressed as:

Gradient and Del Operator

Gradient and Del Operator

In mathematics and physics, the gradient and del operator are fundamental concepts used to describe the behavior of functions and fields in space. The gradient is a mathematical operator that gives both the magnitude and direction of the maximum spatial rate of change. Consider a person standing on a mountain. The slope of the mountain at any given point is not defined unless it is quantified in a particular direction. For this reason, a "directional derivative" is defined, which is a vector...

Directing Effect of Substituents: meta-Directing Groups

Directing Effect of Substituents: meta-Directing Groups

Substituents on the benzene ring that direct an incoming electrophile to undergo substitution at the meta position are called meta directors. All meta directors either have a positive charge on the atom directly bonded to the ring or a partial positive charge. These groups function by withdrawing electrons from the ring through inductive and resonance effects. Consider the carbocation intermediates formed upon the addition of an electrophile on nitrobenzene at the...

Motor Units

Motor Units

A motor unit consists of two main components: a single efferent motor neuron (i.e., a neuron that carries impulses away from the central nervous system) and all of the muscle fibers it innervates. The motor neuron may innervate multiple muscle fibers, which are single cells, but only one motor neuron innervates a single muscle fiber.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Author Correction: Enterovirus-A71 exploits peripherin and Rac1 to invade the central nervous system.

EMBO reports·2026

Same author

Liver Steatosis in Induced Hepatocytes From Carriers of Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

Muscle & nerve·2026

Same author

Plasmonic Interfaces for Advanced Profiling of Cell-Free Circulating Biomarkers.

ACS applied materials & interfaces·2025

Same author

Passive and active biosensing with nucleic acid-protein hybrid nanostructures.

Nanoscale horizons·2025

Same author

Developing risk stratification strategies and biomarkers for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma.

Clinical and translational medicine·2025

Same author

Glioportal: a comprehensive transcriptomic resource unveiling ligand-mediated mesenchymal transition in glioblastoma.

Neuro-oncology·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 28, 2026

Author Spotlight: Advancing Spinal Cord Stimulation - Exploring the Cellular Responses of Motor Neurons Through Patch-Clamp Electrophysiology

Author Spotlight: Advancing Spinal Cord Stimulation - Exploring the Cellular Responses of Motor Neurons Through Patch-Clamp Electrophysiology

Published on: September 8, 2023

Microhexagon gradient array directs spatial diversification of spinal motor neurons.

Geok Soon Lim^1,2, Jin Hui Hor^2,3, Nicholas R Y Ho^1,2

¹Biomedical Institute for Global Health Research and Technology, National University of Singapore, 117599, Singapore.

|February 28, 2019

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

A new microHIVE platform precisely controls molecular cues for spinal motor neuron development. This technology enables directed stem cell differentiation into specific motor neuron subtypes, aiding disease research.

Keywords:

Microfluidics molecular gradient motor neuron spinal cord stem cell

More Related Videos

Optogenetic Phase Transition of TDP-43 in Spinal Motor Neurons of Zebrafish Larvae

Optogenetic Phase Transition of TDP-43 in Spinal Motor Neurons of Zebrafish Larvae

Published on: February 25, 2022

Zebrafish In Situ Spinal Cord Preparation for Electrophysiological Recordings from Spinal Sensory and Motor Neurons

Zebrafish In Situ Spinal Cord Preparation for Electrophysiological Recordings from Spinal Sensory and Motor Neurons

Published on: April 18, 2017

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jan 28, 2026

Author Spotlight: Advancing Spinal Cord Stimulation - Exploring the Cellular Responses of Motor Neurons Through Patch-Clamp Electrophysiology

Author Spotlight: Advancing Spinal Cord Stimulation - Exploring the Cellular Responses of Motor Neurons Through Patch-Clamp Electrophysiology

Published on: September 8, 2023

Optogenetic Phase Transition of TDP-43 in Spinal Motor Neurons of Zebrafish Larvae

Optogenetic Phase Transition of TDP-43 in Spinal Motor Neurons of Zebrafish Larvae

Published on: February 25, 2022

Zebrafish In Situ Spinal Cord Preparation for Electrophysiological Recordings from Spinal Sensory and Motor Neurons

Zebrafish In Situ Spinal Cord Preparation for Electrophysiological Recordings from Spinal Sensory and Motor Neurons

Published on: April 18, 2017

Area of Science:

Developmental Biology
Neuroscience
Biomaterials Engineering

Background:

Spinal cord development involves precise motor neuron diversification and regionalization.
This process relies on the controlled release of molecular cues over time and space.

Purpose of the Study:

To present a novel platform for engineering complex molecular profiles to direct neuronal differentiation.
To investigate the potential of this platform in mimicking spinal cord development and generating diverse motor neuron subtypes.

Main Methods:

Development of the microhexagon interlace for versatile and fine gradients (microHIVE) platform.
Utilizing an interlocking honeycomb lattice for high-resolution spatial patterning of molecular cues.
Designing divergent, mirrored arrays for efficient mixing and a compact device footprint.

Main Results:

Optimized growth factor profiles using microHIVE to achieve rostral-caudal patterning of spinal motor neurons.
Directed stem cell differentiation in situ into a spatial continuum of motor neuron subtypes.
Differentiated cells exhibited RNA and protein signatures mirroring human spinal cord regions (brachial, thoracic, lumbar).

Conclusions:

The microHIVE platform successfully directed stem cell differentiation into specific motor neuron subtypes.
The generated cells mimic the molecular signatures of different human spinal cord regions.
microHIVE offers a powerful tool for creating biomimetic systems for in vitro disease modeling.