Significance of dopamine D

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are expected to be both a revolutionary cell source for regenerative medicine and a powerful tool to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying human cell development in vitro. In the present study, we tried to elucidate the steroidogenic differentiation processes using hiPSC-derived intermediate mesoderm (IM) that is known to be the origin of the human adrenal cortex and gonads. We first performed chemical screening to identify small molecules that induce steroidogenic differentiation of IM cells expressing Odd-skipped related 1 (OSR1), an early IM marker. We identified cabergoline as an inducer of 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, an essential enzyme for adrenogonadal steroidogenesis. Although cabergoline is a potent dopamine D