
Chronic pain is a global health challenge, but conventional rodent models often fail to capture the complexity of human pain mechanisms. To address this gap, we’ve developed an advanced, human-relevant model using human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to produce dorsal horn neurons (DHNs) in just seven days—without the need for transcription factor overexpression. These neurons, confirmed by immunocytochemistry and RNA sequencing, exhibit a high degree of purity, with a balanced ratio of glutamatergic and GABAergic cells. They can form functional networks and, when co-cultured with hiPSC-derived nociceptors, generate activity patterns unique to the peripheral-central pain pathway. This scalable, syngeneic model provides an innovative platform for pain drug discovery, potentially enabling the development of more targeted and effective pain therapies.
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1M per vial CAT#5020M1-1M
Anatomic Produces a Highly Pure Population in Only 7 Days
By building on the Anatomic Primal Ectoderm Platform, dorsal horn neurons can be generated from hiPSCs in just 7 days. Spinal ectoderm diverges from nociceptor fate to become dorsal horn progenitors marked by PAX3 and absence of OLIG2. These progenitors are then terminally differentiated into immature dorsal horn neurons expressing either BRN3A/TUJ1 or PAX2/TUJ1—supporting studies in central pain circuits, neurotoxicity, and inflammation.
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