Neonatal cortical astrocytes possess intrinsic potential in neuronal conversion in defined media  

作　　者：Peng Zeng Qiu-hong Hua Jun-yuan Gong Chang-jie Shi Xiao-ping Pi Xin Xie Ru Zhang 

机构地区：[1]Shanghai Key Laboratory of Signaling and Disease Research,Laboratory of Receptor-based Bio-medicine,Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science,School of Life Sciences and Technology,Tongji University,Shanghai 200092,China [2]CAS Key Laboratory of Receptor Research,the National Center for Drug Screening,Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Shanghai 201203,China

出　　处：《Acta Pharmacologica Sinica》2021年第11期1757-1768,共12页中国药理学报（英文版）

基　　金：supported by grants from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China(2017YFA0104002);the Chinese Academy of Sciences(XDA16010202);the National Natural Science Foundation of China(81730099).

摘　　要：Astrocytes are multifunctional brain cells responsible for maintaining the health and function of the central nervous system.Accumulating evidence suggests that astrocytes might be complementary source across different brain regions to supply new neurons during adult neurogenesis.In this study,we found that neonatal mouse cortical astrocytes can be directly converted into neurons when exposed to neurogenic differentiation culture conditions,with insulin being the most critical component.Detailed comparison studies between mouse cortical astrocytes and neuronal progenitor cells(NPCs)demonstrated the converted neuronal cells originate indeed from the astrocytes rather than NPCs.The neurons derived from mouse cortical astrocytes display typical neuronal morphologies,express neuronal markers and possess typical neuronal electrophysiological properties.More importantly,these neurons can survive and mature in the mouse brain in vivo.Finally,by comparing astrocytes from different brain regions,we found that only cortical astrocytes but not astrocytes from other brain regions such as hippocampus and cerebellum can be converted into neurons under the current condition.Altogether,our findings suggest that neonatal astrocytes from certain brain regions possess intrinsic potential to differentiate/transdifferentiate into neurons which may have clinical relevance in the future.

关 键 词：cortical astrocytes NEONATAL neuronal conversion INSULIN HETEROGENEITY 

分 类 号：R722.1[医药卫生—儿科]