An in vitro culture platform for studying the effect of collective cell migration on spatial self-organization within induced pluripotent stem cell colonies

BACKGROUND: Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) provide an in vitro system to identify the impact of cell behavior on the earliest stages of cell fate specification during human development. Here, we developed an hiPSC-based model to study the effect of collective cell migration in meso–endodermal lineage segregation and cell fate decisions through the control of space confinement using a detachable ring culture system. RESULTS: The actomyosin organization of cells at the edge of undifferentiated colonies formed in a ring barrier differed from that of the cells in the center of the colony. In addition, even in the absence of exogenous supplements, ectoderm, mesoderm, endoderm, and extraembryonic cells differentiated following the induction of collective cell migration at the colony edge by removing the ring-barrier. However, when collective cell migration was inhibited by blocking E-cadherin function, this fate decision within an hiPSC colony was altered to an ectodermal fate. Furthermore, the induction of collective cell migration at the colony edge using an endodermal induction media enhanced endodermal differentiation efficiency in association with cadherin switching, which is involved in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that collective cell migration can be an effective way to drive the segregation of mesoderm and endoderm lineages, and cell fate decisions of hiPSCs. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13036-023-00341-z.