Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can capture the diversity in the general human population as well as provide deeper insight in cellular mechanisms. This makes them suitable to study both fundamental and applied research subjects, such as disease modeling, gene-environment interactions, personalized medicine, and chemical toxicity. In an independent laboratory, we were able to generate iPSCs originating from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells according to a modified version of a temporal episomal vector (EV)-based induction method. The iPSCs could subsequently be differentiated into two different lineages: mesoderm-derived cardiomyocytes and ectoderm-derived neuron-astrocyte co-cultures. It was shown that the neuron-astrocyte culture developed a mature phenotype within the course of five weeks and depending on the medium composition, network formation and neuron-astrocyte cell ratios could be modified. Although previously it has been described that iPSCs generated with this EV-based induction protocol could differentiate to mesenchymal stem cells, hepatocytes, cardiomyocytes, and basic neuronal cultures, we now demonstrate differentiation into a culture containing both neurons and astrocytes.
Keywords: cardiac differentiation; episomal vectors; human induced pluripotent stem cells; in vitro; neuronal differentiation; peripheral blood mononuclear cells.