Modulation of regional characteristics of hNCCs.

A) Schematic representation of culture conditions for the induction and maintenance of hNCCs. RA, retinoic acid (100 nM). B) Schematic distribution of marker-positive cells in the murine embryo. DI, diencephalon; MB, midbrain; BA1 to BA4, branchial arch 1 to branchial arch 4; r1 to r6; rhombomere 1 to rhombomere 6. C) The mRNA expression of regional specifier genes in hNCCs. p75^high cells were collected at the end of the hNCC induction by FACS and seeded onto fibronectin-coated dishes. RNAs were extracted when cells reached a semi-confluent state and used for RT-qPCR. The relative expression level of each gene was demonstrated using the value of cells cultured in CDM (OTX2 and DLX1) or CDM + RA (HOXA2 and HOXA3) as 1.0. Average ± SD. N = 3, biological triplicate.