Differentiation of human ESCs to retinal ganglion cells using a CRISPR engineered reporter cell line.

Valentin M Sluch, Chung-ha O Davis, Vinod Ranganathan, Justin M Kerr, Kellin Krick, Russ Martin, Cynthia A Berlinicke, Nicholas Marsh-Armstrong, Jeffrey S Diamond, Hai-Quan Mao, Donald J Zack

Index: Sci. Rep. 5 , 16595, (2015)

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Abstract

Retinal ganglion cell (RGC) injury and cell death from glaucoma and other forms of optic nerve disease is a major cause of irreversible vision loss and blindness. Human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived RGCs could provide a source of cells for the development of novel therapeutic molecules as well as for potential cell-based therapies. In addition, such cells could provide insights into human RGC development, gene regulation, and neuronal biology. Here, we report a simple, adherent cell culture protocol for differentiation of hPSCs to RGCs using a CRISPR-engineered RGC fluorescent reporter stem cell line. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting of the differentiated cultures yields a highly purified population of cells that express a range of RGC-enriched markers and exhibit morphological and physiological properties typical of RGCs. Additionally, we demonstrate that aligned nanofiber matrices can be used to guide the axonal outgrowth of hPSC-derived RGCs for in vitro optic nerve-like modeling. Lastly, using this protocol we identified forskolin as a potent promoter of RGC differentiation.