Chemical approach to generating long-term self-renewing pMN progenitors from human embryonic stem cells.

Spinal cord impairment involving motor neuron degeneration and demyelination can cause lifelong disabilities, but effective clinical interventions for restoring neurological functions have yet to be developed. In early spinal cord development, neural progenitors of the motor neuron (pMN) domain, defined by the expression of oligodendrocyte transcription factor 2 (OLIG2), in the ventral spinal cord first generate motor neurons and then switch the fate to produce myelin-forming oligodendrocytes. Given their differentiation potential, pMN progenitors could be a valuable cell source for cell therapy in relevant neurological conditions such as spinal cord injury.