title: Reprogramming somatic cells to cells with neuronal characteristics by defined medium both in vitro and in vivo.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Currently, direct conversion from somatic cells to neurons requires virus-mediated delivery of at least one transcriptional factor or a combination of several small-molecule compounds. Delivery of transcriptional factors may affect genome stability, while small-molecule compounds may require more evaluations when applied in vivo. Thus, a defined medium with only conventional growth factors or additives for cell culture is desirable for inducing neuronal trans-differentiation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Here, we report that a defined medium (5C) consisting of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), N2 supplement, leukemia inhibitory factor, vitamin C (Vc), and β-mercaptoethanol (βMe) induces the direct conversion of somatic cells to cells with neuronal characteristics. Application of 5C medium converted mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) into TuJ+ neuronal-like cells, which were capable of survival after being transplanted into the mouse brain. The same 5C medium could convert primary rat astrocytes into neuronal-like cells with mature electrophysiology characteristics in vitro and facilitated the recovery of brain injury, possibly by inducing similar conversions, when infused into the mouse brain in vivo. Crucially, 5C medium could also induce neuronal characteristics in several human cell types.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In summary, this 5C medium not only provides a means to derive cells with neuronal characteristics without viral transfection in vitro but might also be useful to produce neurons in vivo for neurodegenerative disease treatment.
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, #190 Kaiyuan Avenue, Science City, Guangzhou, 510530 China.
authors.forename: Songwei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, #190 Kaiyuan Avenue, Science City, Guangzhou, 510530 China.
authors.forename: Yiping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, #190 Kaiyuan Avenue, Science City, Guangzhou, 510530 China.
authors.forename: Yixin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, #190 Kaiyuan Avenue, Science City, Guangzhou, 510530 China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, #190 Kaiyuan Avenue, Science City, Guangzhou, 510530 China.
authors.forename: Chengqian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, #190 Kaiyuan Avenue, Science City, Guangzhou, 510530 China.
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, #190 Kaiyuan Avenue, Science City, Guangzhou, 510530 China.
authors.forename: Lilong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, #190 Kaiyuan Avenue, Science City, Guangzhou, 510530 China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, #190 Kaiyuan Avenue, Science City, Guangzhou, 510530 China.
authors.forename: Haitao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, #190 Kaiyuan Avenue, Science City, Guangzhou, 510530 China.
authors.forename: Chunhua
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, #190 Kaiyuan Avenue, Science City, Guangzhou, 510530 China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macau, China.
authors.forename: Chuanming
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macau, China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, #190 Kaiyuan Avenue, Science City, Guangzhou, 510530 China.
authors.forename: Fuhui
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, #190 Kaiyuan Avenue, Science City, Guangzhou, 510530 China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, #190 Kaiyuan Avenue, Science City, Guangzhou, 510530 China.
authors.forename: Lining
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, #190 Kaiyuan Avenue, Science City, Guangzhou, 510530 China.|Anhui University, Hefei, 230601 China.
authors.forename: Lingyu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macau, China.
authors.forename: Huanxing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, #190 Kaiyuan Avenue, Science City, Guangzhou, 510530 China.
authors.forename: Jiekai
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, #190 Kaiyuan Avenue, Science City, Guangzhou, 510530 China.
authors.forename: Duanqing
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pei
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, #190 Kaiyuan Avenue, Science City, Guangzhou, 510530 China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zheng
keywords: Astrocytes; Defined medium; Neurons; Somatic cells; Trans-differentiation