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Despite evidence that oxygen regulates neural precursor fate, the effects of changing oxygen tensions on distinct stages in precursor differentiation are poorly understood. We found that 5% oxygen permitted clonal and long-term expansion of mouse fetal cortical precursors. In contrast, 20% oxygen caused a rapid decrease in hypoxia-inducible factor 1α and nucleophosmin, followed by the induction of p53 and apoptosis of cells. This led to a decrease in overall cell number and particularly a loss of astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. Clonal analysis revealed that apoptosis in 20% oxygen was due to a complete loss of CD133loCD24lo multipotent precursors, a substantial loss of CD133hiCD24lo multipotent precursors, and a failure of remaining CD133hiCD24lo cells to generate glia. In contrast, committed neuronal progenitors were not significantly affected. Switching clones from 5% to 20% oxygen only after mitogen withdrawal led to a decrease in total clone numbers but an even greater decrease in oligodendrocyte-containing clones. During this late exposure to 20% oxygen, bipotent glial (A2B5+) and early (platelet-derived growth factor receptor α) oligodendrocyte progenitors appeared and disappeared more quickly, relative to 5% oxygen, and late stage O4+ oligodendrocyte progenitors never appeared. These results indicate that multipotent cells and oligodendrocyte progenitors are more susceptible to apoptosis at 20% oxygen than committed neuronal progenitors. This has important implications for optimizing ex vivo production methods for cell replacement therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]