In the September 1st online edition of Stem Cells, L. Cajanek et al. from the Karolinska Institute (Stockholm, Sweden) reported their study results on Wnt/β-catenin signaling blockade of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) inducing them to differentiate into dopaminergic (DA) neurons. In experiments involving mESCs lacking Wnt1 or the low-density-lipoprotein receptor-related protein 6 (LRP6), the investigators found that blocking Wnt/β-catenin signaling increases neuroectodermal differentiation of mESCs. LRP6 produced similar results as mESCs treated with Dickopf1 (Wnt/β-catenin pathway inhibitor) in their ability to induce DA differentiation. The researchers noted that LRP6 abrogates the responsivesness of mESCs to Wnt ligand. The authors concluded that Wnt/β-catenin signaling is not required for DA differentiation of mESCs in vitro and that their experimental results and that enhancing differentiation and the number of ESC-derived DA neurons may have future clinical application as a cell-based replacement therapy in Parkinson's disease.