Neuronal Differentiation Services

Immortal cell lines that express neural precursor cell properties and are still capable of undergoing neural lineage transition may help identify molecular and cellular events involved in neural differentiation and aid in assessing extrinsic and intrinsic factors involved in neural precursor cell fate. As a leading company in the field of biological and neurological research, Creative Biolabs provides our customers with stable, repeatable, and customizable neural cell differentiation services.

Cell Lines for Induced Differentiation

Primary neurons maintain the characteristics of the original tissue and are powerful biological models for observing and manipulating neurons in vitro. However, primary neurons are highly sensitive to isolation conditions and cultural environments and can only be used for short-term culture. On the other hand, neural cell lines can be easily transfected and induced to differentiate into neuron-like cells in vitro. Differentiated neural cell lines express neuronal biomarkers, and present typical neuronal morphological characteristics such as axons and dendrites. Therefore, it is widely used in in vitro neurobiological and physio-mechanical studies. At present, the most commonly used and mature immortalized neural cell lines in biological experiments are PC12, SH-SY5Y, bEnd.3, GT1-7, tr-BBB, HBMEC, BV2, etc.

Fig 1. Typical electrical excitability of differentiated PC12 cells. (Lv, 2022)

Neuron Stem Cells for Induced Differentiation

Given the paucity of in vitro models available for neurophysiological and pathological studies, the use of iPSCs to differentiate into neuronal cells has received particular attention from researchers. Through directional induction and screening, iPSCs have become a stable source of Neuron Stem Cells (NSCs). Under specific culture conditions, NSCs further differentiate into a variety of neurons, including but not limited to dopaminergic neurons, motor neurons, oligodendrocytes, and astrocytes.

Fig 2. Summary of iPSC differentiation into neurons.

Dopaminergic Neurons

Dopaminergic neurons are concentrated in the substantia nigra pars compacta, and dysfunction of these cells causes changes in dopamine secretion and is closely related to the pathogenesis of various diseases. Thanks to our iPSC technology platform, Creative Biolabs provides customized iPSC to dopaminergic neuron differentiation services. Optimized differentiation protocols allow us to provide you with high-purity, high-quality dopaminergic neuronal precursors or functionally mature cells. A detailed maintenance protocol will allow you to construct phenotype-relevant in vitro disease models, and optimized media and supplements will allow for long-term maintenance of these cells in vitro.

Motor Neurons

Motor neurons are peripheral effector organ control neurons located in the spinal cord and brain. Damage to motor neurons and their circuits leads to a range of devastating motor neuron diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Here at Creative Biolabs, our customized neural cell differentiation platform provides our clients with highly pure, functionally relevant motor neuron cells expressing typical biomarkers. These cells display pronounced neurite outgrowth and biomarker expression, making them ideal for neurotoxicity testing, drug screening, disease modeling, and co-culture model development.

Oligodendrocytes

Oligodendrocytes form an insulating myelin structure surrounding axons in the central nervous system, assist in the efficient transmission of bioelectrical signals, and maintain and protect the normal function of neurons. Disruption of oligodendrocyte function leads to neuronal damage, brain tumors, and myelinopathy. With our neuronal differentiation service, you can choose between standard mature oligodendrocytes or customizable high-quality precursor oligodendrocytes to create the appropriate research model. The cell lines we offer stably express a series of cell markers including O4, CNP, RIP, and MBP, which are capable of meeting any downstream analysis you need.

Astrocytes

Astrocytes are the most abundant glial cells in the central nervous system and spinal cord. Astrocytes are involved in neuronal metabolism, development, neurotransmitter synthesis, and repair of nerve damage. The relationship between astrocyte dysfunction and many neurological diseases including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Huntington's disease has been verified. Through an optimized differentiation protocol, Creative Biolabs provides customized high-purity, high-quality astrocytes that recapitulate the morphological/functional characteristics of primary cells, with stably expressed markers such as GFAP and s1000. The astrocytes we provide will be your best choice for neurotoxicity testing, drug evaluation, and building complex neurological models.

Our Services

With our deep understanding of neuronal differentiation processes, Creative Biolabs has devised several strategies to isolate neural cell lines to serve as primary model systems in your neurology experiments, including targeting oncogenic, growth factor-mediated expansion of CNS precursor cells, clonal tumors, somatic fusion, and retroviral immortalization. We provide a series of cell lines including PC12, SH-SY5Y, bEnd.3, GT1-7, tr-BBB, HBMEC, BV2, and stimulate or induce differentiation through various approaches.

The iPSC-induced differentiation technology provides a new way for neurological modeling and research in vitro. We provide clients around the world with high-quality, high-purity neural cell lines differentiated from iPSCs. These easy-to-source cells stably express neuronal markers, recapitulate the biological characteristics of primary cells, and be maintained long-term in well-defined cultures. Through our optimized differentiation protocol, you can customize and choose any population on the neuronal cell differentiation route to complete your research model construction and downstream analysis.

We also provide testing services for your experimental models, including staining and morphological observation of nerve fibers in differentiated cells to confirm their differentiation and growth, as well as detection of common neurotransmitters (dopamine, norepinephrine, catecholamines, etc.) and neural differentiation markers (NF-M, NF-L, Tuj-1, and neurotransmitter receptors).

Fig 3. Morphological and molecular biological assay for SH-SY5Y cells induced by RA. (Wei, 2021)

In addition, Creative Biolabs also conducts electrophysiology, neurotoxicity, neuropharmacology, and biocompatibility studies on differentiated cells, and provide you with accurate, reliable, and reproducible data. Please do not hesitate to contact us for more information.

Reference

1. Lv, X.Y.; et al. Study on the influence of external factors on the electrical excitability of PC12 quasi-neuronal networks through Voltage Threshold Measurement Method. PLoS One. 2022, 17(3): e0265078.
2. Wei, B.; et al. HAGLR promotes neuron differentiation through the miR-130a-3p-MeCP2 axis. Open Medicine. 2021, 16: 1121-1131.