We studied neural induction and generation of neuroectoderm in the colonies of human parthenogenetic SC cultured in the presence of 5 and 19±2% oxygen. We found that neuroectoderm was more actively generated at high oxygen content. At the same time, the transcription of stem cell pluripotency genes was not completely suppressed during neural induction at low oxygen content, while the expression of endoderm and mesodermal marker genes attested to the absence of specifi c differentiation. These fi ndings demonstrate more effi cient neuroectoderm generation induced in the colonies of pluripotent stem cells under conditions of normoxia.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10517-012-1892-4#

We studied the effect of recombinant human activin A on induced neuroectoderm formation in colonies of human parthenogenetic SC in the absence of feeder cells. It was found that pretreatment of human parthenogenetic SC with activin A suppressed subsequent neural induction. Activin A in a concentration of 10 ng/ml significantly decreased transcriptional activity of genes required for neuroectoderm formation. At the same time, activin A in a concentration of 20 ng/ml increased the expression of pluripotency genes and completely inhibited the formation of structures in vitro reproducing the neural tube of the developing embryo. These findings attest to prolonged effect of activin A as an inhibitor of neuroectodermal differentiation.
Semechkin R.A., Abramihina T.V., Isaev D.A. Activin A Suppresses Induced Formation of Neuroectoderm in Colonies of Parthenogenetic Stem Cells In Vitro. Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine. Volume 151, Number 4, 502-505, DOI: 10.1007/s10517-011-1367-z Translated from Kletochnye Tekhnologii v Biologii i Meditsine, No. 2, pp. 67–70, April, 2011

Human parthenogenetic stem cells are derived from the inner cell mass of blastocysts obtained from unfertilized oocytes that have been stimulated to develop without any participation of male gamete. As parthenogenesis does not involve the destruction of a viable human embryo, the derivation and use of human parthenogenetic stem cells does not raise the same ethical concerns as conventional embryonic stem cells. Human parthenogenetic stem cells are similar to embryonic stem cells in their proliferation and multilineage in vitro differentiation capacity. The aim of this study is to derive multipotent neural stem cells from human parthenogenetic stem cells that are stable to passaging and cryopreservation, and have the ability to further differentiate into functional neurons. Immunocytochemistry, quantitative real-time PCR, or FACS were used to confirm that the derived neural stem cells express neural markers such as NES, SOX2 and MS1. The derived neural stem cells keep uniform morphology for at least 30 passages and can be spontaneously differentiated into cells with neuron morphology that express TUBB3 and MAP2, and fire action potentials. These results suggest that parthenogenetic stem cells are a very promising and potentially unlimited source for the derivation of multipotent neural stem cells that can be used for therapeutic applications.
Isaev DA, Garitaonandia I, Abramihina TV, Zogovic-Kapsalis T, West RA, Semechkin AY, Müller AM, Semechkin RA. In vitro differentiation of human parthenogenetic stem cells into neural lineages. Regen Med. 2012 Jan;7(1):37-45. PubMed PMID: 22168496. (doi: 10.2217/rme.11.110)