Pluripotent stem cells for the study of early human embryology

Forty years have passed since the first pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs), were established. Since then, several PSCs have been reported, including human ESCs in 1998, mouse epiblast stem cells (EpiSCs) in 2007, induced PSCs (iPSCs) in 2006 and 2007, and naïve human PSCs in 2014. Naïve PSCs are thought to correspond to pre‐implantation epiblast cells, whereas conventional (or primed) human PSCs correspond to post‐implantation epiblast cells. Thus, naïve and primed PSCs are classified by their developmental stages and have stage‐specific characteristics, despite sharing the common feature of pluripotency. In this review, we discuss the current status of PSCs and their use to model human peri‐implantation development.