title: Modeling autism spectrum disorders with human neurons.
abstract: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by impaired social communication and interactions and by restricted and repetitive behaviors. Although ASD is suspected to have a heritable or sporadic genetic basis, its underlying etiology and pathogenesis are not well understood. Therefore, viable human neurons and glial cells produced using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) to reprogram cells from individuals affected with ASD provide an unprecedented opportunity to elucidate the pathophysiology of these disorders, providing novel insights regarding ASD and a potential platform to develop and test therapeutic compounds. Herein, we discuss the state of art with regards to ASD modeling, including limitations of this technology, as well as potential future directions. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Exploiting human neurons.
authors: Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapy (NETCEM), School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; Department of Pediatrics/Rady Children׳s Hospital San Diego, Department of Cellular & Molecular Medicine, Stem Cell Program, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA; Stem Cell Laboratory, Department of Surgery, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; Department of Obstetrics School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. Electronic address: patriciacbbbraga@usp.br.
authors: Patricia C B
authors: PC
authors: Beltrão-Braga
authors: Department of Pediatrics/Rady Children׳s Hospital San Diego, Department of Cellular & Molecular Medicine, Stem Cell Program, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA. Electronic address: muotri@ucsd.edu.
authors: Alysson R
authors: AR
authors: Muotri
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Autism spectrum disorders; Disease modeling; Human induced pluripotent stem cells; Human neurons