Humanized neuronal chimeric mouse brain generated by neonatally engrafted human iPSC-derived primitive neural progenitor cells

Abstract

We thank Howard Gendelman from the University of Nebraska Medical Center for helpful comments. We also thank Ranjie Xu for technical assistance and Andrew Brawner for the help with editing the manuscript. This work was supported by an Institutional Development Award (IDeA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the NIH under grant number P30GM110768, and UNMC lab startup fund (both to PJ). The creation of a humanized chimeric mouse nervous system permits the study of human neural development and disease pathogenesis using human cells in vivo. Humanized glial chimeric mice with the brain and spinal cord being colonized by human glial cells have been successfully generated. However, generation of humanized chimeric mouse brains repopulated by human neurons to possess a high degree of chimerism have not been well studied. Here we created humanized neuronal chimeric mouse brains by neonatally engrafting the distinct and highly neurogenic human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)–derived rosette-type primitive neural progenitors. These neural progenitors predominantly differentiate to neurons, which disperse widely throughout the mouse brain with infiltration of the cerebral cortex and hippocampus at 6 and 13 months after transplantation. Building upon the hiPSC technology, we propose that this potentially unique humanized neuronal chimeric mouse model will provide profound opportunities to define the structure, function, and plasticity of neural networks containing human neurons derived from a broad variety of neurological disorders.