The Lund human mesencephalic (LUHMES) cell line was generated by conditional immortalization of a neuronal human precuros cells from ventral mesencephalic tissue of a female fetus. It is a subclone of the tetracycline-controlled, v-myc-overexpressing human mesencephalic-derived cell line MESC2.10. MESC2.10 was originally immortalized with a LINX v-myc retroviral vector.
LUHMES cells can be differentiated into morphologically and biochemically mature dopamine-like neurons following exposure to tetracycline, GDNF (glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor), and db-cAMP. LUHMES cells exhibit the same dopaminergic and neuronal characteristics as MESC2.10 cells.