Role of miRNAs in the neurogenesis of human neural stem cells

by use of the model of human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived neurogenesis, miRNAs involved in the differentiation from neural stem cells (hNSC) to neurons were profiled and identified. HNSC were differentiated into the neural lineage, out of which the neuronal subset was enriched through cell sorting based on select combinatorial biomarkers: CD15-/CD29Low/CD24High. This relatively pure and viable subpopulation expressed the neuronal marker alpha III-tubulin. The miRNA array demonstrated that a number of miRNAs were simultaneously induced or suppressed in neurons, as compared to hNSC. Real-time PCR further validated the decrease in levels of miR214, but increase in brain-specific miR7 and miR9 in the derived neurons. This experiment includes a total of 6 samples which are divided in to 2 groups, each with 3 biological repeats: 3 untreated normal samples as controls and 3 differentiated samples as the treated condition