Optimizing neuronal differentiation from induced pluripotent stem cells to model ASD.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is an early-onset neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social communication, and restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior. Despite its high prevalence, discovery of pathophysiological mechanisms underlying ASD has lagged due to a lack of appropriate model systems. Recent advances in induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology and neural differentiation techniques allow for detailed functional analyses of neurons generated from living individuals with ASD. Refinement of cortical neuron differentiation methods from iPSCs will enable mechanistic studies of specific neuronal subpopulations that may be preferentially impaired in ASD. In this review, we summarize recent accomplishments in differentiation of cortical neurons from human pluripotent stems cells and efforts to establish in vitro model systems to study ASD using personalized neurons.
Program in Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, The Hospital for Sick Children Toronto, ON, Canada.
Dae-Sung
DS
Kim
Program in Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, The Hospital for Sick Children Toronto, ON, Canada.
P Joel
PJ
Ross
Program in Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, The Hospital for Sick Children Toronto, ON, Canada ; Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto Toronto, ON, Canada.
Kirill
K
Zaslavsky
Program in Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, The Hospital for Sick Children Toronto, ON, Canada ; Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto Toronto, ON, Canada.
James
J
Ellis
autism spectrum disorders (ASD); cellular phenotype; disease modeling; human pluripotent stem cells; neocortical neurons; neural differentiation