Mesodermal stem cells or ES cells, prepared from the mononuclear cell fraction isolated from bone marrow fluid or umbilical blood, were found to differentiate into neural stem cells, neurons, or glial cells when cultured in a basal culture medium. In addition, the differentiation of the mesodermal stem cells or ES cells into neural cells was promoted through the addition of an ischemic brain extract to the above-mentioned basal culture medium. Furthermore, the neural cells obtained using the above-described method for inducing differentiation were revealed to have neural regeneration potency in a brain infarction model, a dementia model, a spinal cord injury model and a demyelination model.In addition, according to the present invention, mesodermal stem cells can be differentiated into neural cells by immortalizing the mesodermal stem cells by highly expressing or activating an immortalization gene in the mesodermal stem cells and culturing the cells under an appropriate condition. The methods of the present invention are very useful in the medical field of neural regeneration.
