Optimization of surface-immobilized extracellular matrices for the proliferation of neural progenitor cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells

Neural progenitor cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells have been considered as a potential source for cell-transplantation therapy of central nervous disorders. However, efficient methods to expand neural progenitor cells are further required for their clinical applications. In this study, a protein array was fabricated with nine extracellular matrices and used to screen substrates suitable for the expansion of neural progenitor cells derived from mouse induced pluripotent stem cells. The results showed that neural progenitor cells efficiently proliferated on substrates with immobilized laminin-1, laminin-5, or Matrigel. Based on this result, further attempts were made to develop clinically compliant substrates with immobilized polypeptides that mimic laminin-1, one of the most effective extracellular matrices as identified in the array-based screening. We used here recombinant DNA technology to prepare polypeptide containing the globular domain 3 of laminin-1 and immobilized it onto glass-based substrates. Our results showed that neural progenitor cells selectively proliferated on substrate with the immobilized polypeptide while maintaining their differentiated state.