Method for producing retinal tissue and retina-related cells

1. A method for producing a retinal progenitor cell, comprising

(1) a first step of subjecting pluripotent stem cells to floating culture in a serum-free medium to form an aggregate of pluripotent stem cells, and

(2) a second step of subjecting the aggregate formed in step (1) to floating culture in a serum-free medium or serum-containing medium each being free of a substance acting on the Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signal transduction pathway that can enhance signal transduction mediated by Shh at a concentration exerting an adverse influence on the selective differentiation into retinal progenitor cell and retinal tissue and containing a substance acting on the bone morphogenic protein (BMP) signal transduction pathway that can enhance signal transduction pathway mediated by BMP at a concentration necessary for differentiation induction into retinal cells from day 1 or later from the start of the floating culture in step (1) until a cell expressing retina and anterior neural fold homeobox (Rax) gene appears, thereby obtaining an aggregate containing retinal progenitor cells.

2. A method for producing a retinal tissue, comprising

(1) a first step of subjecting pluripotent stem cells to floating culture in a serum-free medium to form an aggregate of pluripotent stem cells,

(2) a second step of subjecting the aggregate formed in step (1) to floating culture in a serum-free medium or serum-containing medium each being free of a substance acting on the Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signal transduction pathway that can enhance signal transduction mediated by Shh at a concentration exerting an adverse influence on the selective differentiation into retinal progenitor cell and retinal tissue and containing a substance acting on the bone morphogenic protein (BMP) signal transduction pathway that can enhance signal transduction pathway mediated by BMP at a concentration necessary for differentiation induction into retinal cells from day 1 or later from the start of the floating culture in step (1) until a cell expressing retina and anterior neural fold homeobox (Rax) gene appears, thereby obtaining an aggregate containing retinal progenitor cells, and

(3) a third step of subjecting the aggregate formed in step (2) to floating culture in a serum-free medium or serum-containing medium each being free of any of a substance acting on the Shh signal transduction pathway that can enhance signal transduction mediated by Shh, a substance acting on the BMP signal transduction pathway that can enhance signal transduction pathway mediated by BMP and a substance acting on the Wingless-related integration site (Wnt) signal pathway that can enhance signal transduction mediated by Wnt, thereby obtaining an aggregate containing retinal tissues and being substantially free of non-neural head ectoderm.

3. A method for producing a retinal layer-specific neural cell, comprising

(1) a first step of subjecting pluripotent stem cells to floating culture in a serum-free medium to form an aggregate of pluripotent stem cells,

(2) a second step of subjecting the aggregate formed in step (1) to floating culture in a serum-free medium or serum-containing medium each being free of a substance acting on the Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signal transduction pathway that can enhance signal transduction mediated by Shh at a concentration exerting an adverse influence on the selective differentiation into retinal progenitor cell and retinal tissue and containing a substance acting on the bone morphogenic protein (BMP) signal transduction pathway that can enhance signal transduction pathway mediated by BMP at a concentration necessary for differentiation induction into retinal cells from day 1 or later from the start of the floating culture in step (1) until a cell expressing retina and anterior neural fold homeobox (Rax) gene appears, thereby obtaining an aggregate containing retinal progenitor cells, and

(3) a third step of subjecting the aggregate formed in step (2) to floating culture in a serum-free medium or serum-containing medium each being free of any of a substance acting on the Shh signal transduction pathway that can enhance signal transduction mediated by Shh, a substance acting on the BMP signal transduction pathway that can enhance signal transduction pathway mediated by BMP and a substance acting on the Wingless-related integration site (Wnt) signal pathway that can enhance signal transduction mediated by Wnt until the intended retinal layer-specific neural cells appear, thereby obtaining an aggregate containing retinal tissues containing the intended retinal layer-specific neural cells and being substantially free of non-neural head ectoderm.

4. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the pluripotent stem cells are primate pluripotent stem cells.

5. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the pluripotent stem cells are human pluripotent stem cells.

6. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the floating culture is performed in the absence of a basement membrane preparation.

7. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the substance acting on the BMP signal transduction pathway that can enhance signal transduction pathway mediated by BMP is one or more proteins selected from the group consisting of BMP2, BMP4, BMP7 and GDF7.

8. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the substance acting on the BMP signal transduction pathway that can enhance signal transduction pathway mediated by BMP is BMP4.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein BMP4 is at a concentration of about 1.5 nM.

10. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the substance acting on the BMP signal transduction pathway that can enhance signal transduction pathway mediated by BMP is added to the medium between day 1 and day 15 from the start of the floating culture in step (1).

11. A method for producing a retinal tissue, comprising producing an aggregate containing retinal tissues and being substantially free of non-neural head ectoderm by the method according to claim 2 , and physically cutting out a retinal tissue from the thus-produced aggregate, thereby obtaining a purified retinal tissue.

12. A method for producing a transplantation material for cell treatment, comprising producing an aggregate containing retinal tissues and being substantially free of non-neural head ectoderm by the method according to claim 2 , and physically cutting out a retinal tissue from the aggregate to provide a transplantation material for cell treatment.

13. A method for producing a transplantation material for cell treatment, comprising

(1) producing an aggregate containing retinal tissues and being substantially free of non-neural head ectoderm by the method according to claim 2 , and

(2) dispersing the aggregate produced in (1) and selecting from the dispersed cells a retinal tissue constituting cell to provide a transplantation material for cell treatment.

14. A method of evaluating toxicity or drug efficacy of a test substance, comprising producing an aggregate containing retinal tissues and being substantially free of non-neural head ectoderm by the method according to claim 2 , and bringing thus-produced aggregate into contact with the test substance, and examining the influence of the substance on the tissue in the aggregate.