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In regenerative medicine applications, the differentiation stage of implanted stem cells must be optimized to control cell fate and enhance therapeutic efficacy. We investigated the therapeutic potential of human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cells at two differentiation stages on peripheral nerve regeneration. Neural crest stem cells (NCSCs) and Schwann cells (NCSC-SCs) derived from iPSCs were used to construct a tissue-engineered nerve conduit that was applied to bridge injured nerves in a rat sciatic nerve transection model. Upon nerve conduit implantation, the NCSC group showed significantly higher electrophysiological recovery at 1 month as well as better gastrocnemius muscle recovery at 5 months than the acellular group, but the NCSC-SC group didn’t. Both transplanted NCSCs and NCSC-SCs interacted with newly-growing host axons, while NCSCs showed better survival rate and …