Unit of Neuromuscular and Neurodegenerative Disorders, Laboratory of Molecular Medicine, Department of Neurosciences, Bambino Gesù Children's Research Hospital, IRCCS, 0165, Rome, Italy,
Cell Mol Life Sci. 2014 May;71(9):1623-39. doi: 10.1007/s00018-013-1511-1. Epub 2013 Nov 20.
Neurogenesis is the developmental process regulating cell proliferation of neural stem cells, determining their differentiation into glial and neuronal cells, and orchestrating their organization into finely regulated functional networks. Can this complex process be recapitulated in vitro using induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology? Can neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases be modeled using iPSCs? What is the potential of iPSC technology in neurobiology? What are the recent advances in the field of neurological diseases? Since the applications of iPSCs in neurobiology are based on the capacity to regulate in vitro differentiation of human iPSCs into different neuronal subtypes and glial cells, and the possibility of obtaining iPSC-derived neurons and glial cells is based on and hindered by our poor understanding of human embryonic development, we reviewed current knowledge on in vitro neural differentiation from a developmental and cellular biology perspective. We highlight the importance to further advance our understanding on the mechanisms controlling in vivo neurogenesis in order to efficiently guide neurogenesis in vitro for cell modeling and therapeutical applications of iPSCs technology.
神经发生是调节神经干细胞增殖的发育过程，决定其分化为胶质细胞和神经元细胞，并协调它们组织成精细调节的功能网络。能否使用诱导多能干细胞（iPSC）技术在体外再现这一复杂过程？能否使用 iPSC 对神经发育和神经退行性疾病进行建模？iPSC 技术在神经生物学中有哪些潜力？神经疾病领域的最新进展是什么？由于 iPSCs 在神经生物学中的应用基于调节体外分化为不同神经元亚型和神经胶质细胞的能力，并且获得 iPSC 衍生的神经元和神经胶质细胞的可能性基于并受到我们对人类胚胎发育的理解不足的限制，我们从发育和细胞生物学的角度回顾了当前关于体外神经分化的知识。我们强调了进一步深入了解控制体内神经发生的机制的重要性，以便有效地指导体外神经发生，从而为 iPSC 技术的细胞建模和治疗应用提供指导。
