Hepatic differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells in miniaturized format suitable for high-throughput screen

• Hepatic differentiation of human PSCs in 96- and 384-w plates
• Phenotypic and functional CV% < 15%: suitable for high-throughput assays
• New HLC culture medium: maintenance and further hepatic maturation for > 30 days
• Upon HCV inoculation, detectable intra and extracellular HCV RNA for > 30 days

The establishment of protocols to differentiate human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) including embryonic (ESC) and induced pluripotent (iPSC) stem cells into functional hepatocyte-like cells (HLCs) creates new opportunities to study liver metabolism, genetic diseases and infection of hepatotropic viruses (hepatitis B and C viruses) in the context of specific genetic background. While supporting efficient differentiation to HLCs, the published protocols are limited in terms of differentiation into fully mature hepatocytes and in a smaller-well format. This limitation handicaps the application of these cells to high-throughput assays. Here we describe a protocol allowing efficient and consistent hepatic differentiation of hPSCs in 384-well plates into functional hepatocyte-like cells, which remain differentiated for more than 3 weeks. This protocol affords the unique opportunity to miniaturize the hPSC-based differentiation technology and facilitates screening for molecules in modulating liver differentiation, metabolism, genetic network, and response to infection or other external stimuli.