The burden of neurodegenerative disorders in an aging population has become a challenge for the modern world. While the biomarkers available and the methods of diagnosis have improved to detect the onset of these diseases at early stages, the question of adapted and efficient therapies is still a major issue. The prospect of replacing the loss of functional neural cells remains an attractive but still audacious approach. A huge progress has been made in the generation of neurons derived from human stem cell lines and transplantation assays are tested in animals for a wide range of pathologies of the central nervous system. Here we take one step back and examine neuronal differentiation and the characterization of neural progenitors derived from human embryonic stem cells. We gather results from our previous studies and present a cell model that was successfully used in functional analyses and engraftment experiments. These neuronal precursors exhibit spontaneous and evoked activity, indicating that their electrophysiological and calcium handling properties are similar to those of matured neurons. Hence this summarized information will serve as a basis to design better stem cell-based therapies to improve neural regeneration.

Department of Molecular Neurophysiology Institute of Experimental Medicine Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Prague Czech Republic ; Department of Neuroscience 2nd Medical Faculty Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Department of Molecular Neurophysiology Institute of Experimental Medicine Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Prague Czech Republic ; Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale Unité de Recherche U710 Université Montpellier 2 Montpellier France ; Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes Paris France

Department of Neuroscience 2nd Medical Faculty Charles University Prague Czech Republic ; Department of Neuroscience Institute of Experimental Medicine Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Prague Czech Republic

Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology Medical Faculty Saarland University Homburg Germany

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