generate neurons from stem cells
A group of U.S. scientists has succeeded for the first time, generating neurons from stem cells with induced pluripotent (iPSC) in patients with schizophrenia. The results of this work, published this week in Nature, show that neurons generated from iPSC cells of schizophrenic patients are able to generate fewer neural connections than the rest.
This research, led by Fred Gage, Professor, Laboratory of Genetics at the Salk Institute in California, U.S., has discovered that an antipsychotic drug commonly used to treat this disease, loxapine, is able to restore the connectivity between these new cells and also affected the activity of hundreds gene.
To make this work, scientists reprogrammed skin fibroblasts from four schizophrenic patients with a hereditary predisposition to the disease. The authors differentiate these reprogrammed cells (iPSC) in neurons.
then used a modified rabies virus to highlight the connections between neurons, allowing to detect the differences between neurons from normal and schizophrenic patients.
With the viral tracer observed that the neurons of patients were connected to each other less often and had fewer projections grow out from their cell bodies. For its part, the gene expression profiles identified almost 600 genes whose activity was poorly regulated in these neurons.
A NEW MODEL FOR DRUG DESIGN
During the last three weeks of cell differentiation, the researchers administered a series of drugs commonly prescribed antipsychotics. Loxapine was the only one who acted on dopamine receptors in the brain, increasing the ability of neurons to reach out to their neighbors' and to connect. This drug also affected the activity of hundreds of genes.
Experts expect that this new model is useful for designing new drugs against this disease, which affects 1 percent of world population.
As explained Gage SINC statements gathered by Europa Press, describing the biological mechanisms underlying this disease is "a major step in the research field because for many years been considered a disease only 'social' "." It is true that the environment affects schizophrenia, but there are a lot of components that are genetically determined, "he says.
However, it remains without knowing the root cause that generates schizophrenia. "Without a minimal understanding of the causes and pathophysiology of this mental disorder, we lack the tools necessary to develop effective treatments or preventive measures," he says.
Source : Scientists
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