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J. Neurochem. (2011) 119, 957–971.

We characterized phenotype and function of a fetal human mesencephalic cell line (LUHMES, Lund human mesencephalic) as neuronal model system. Neurodevelopmental profiling of the proliferation stage (d0, day 0) of these conditionally‐immortalized cells revealed neuronal features, expressed simultaneously with some early neuroblast and stem cell markers. An optimized 2‐step differentiation procedure, triggered by shut‐down of the myc transgene, resulted in uniformly post‐mitotic neurons within 5 days (d5). This was associated with down‐regulation of some precursor markers and further up‐regulation of neuronal genes. Neurite network formation involved the outgrowth of 1–2, often > 500 μm long projections. They showed dynamic growth cone behavior, as evidenced by time‐lapse imaging of stably GFP‐over‐expressing cells. Voltage‐dependent …