Generation of Locus Coeruleus Norepinephrine Neurons from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

Central norepinephrine (NE) neurons, mainly located in the Locus coeruleus (LC), play roles in a wide range of behavioral and physiological processes. How the human LC-NE neurons develop and what roles they play in the pathophysiology of human diseases is poorly understood, partly due to the unavailability of functional human LC-NE neurons. Here we established a technology for efficient generation of LC-NE neurons from human pluripotent stem cells by identifying a novel role of ACTIVIN A in regulating the LC-NE transcription factors in the dorsal rhombomere 1 (r1) progenitors. The in vitro generated human LC-NE neurons not only display extensive axonal arborization and release/uptake NE, but also exhibit the pacemaker activity, calcium oscillation, and in particular chemoreceptor activity in response to CO2. Multiple timepoint single nucleus RNA-Seq (snRNA-Seq) analysis captured the dynamic NE differentiation process, confirmed the NE cell population and revealed the differentiation trajectory from hindbrain progenitors to NE neurons via ASCL1 expressing precursor stage. The LC-NE neurons engineered with a NE sensor reliably reported the extracellular NE level. The availability of functional human LC-NE neurons enables investigation of their roles in the pathogenesis of and development of therapeutics for neural psychiatric and degenerative diseases.