WIKIPEDIA, BRUNO PASCALAdult human brains have a very limited ability to produce new neurons, so scientists have been pursuing ways to convert other types of brain cells into these coveted cell types. Several presentations at this week’s Society for Neuroscience (SfN) meeting held in Chicago demonstrated that it’s possible to reprogram glia—non-neuronal cells known for supporting their neuron neighbors—into neurons within the brains of mice.
Sophie Peron of Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany took the genes for two transcription factors, Sox 2 and Ascl1, and overexpressed them in the cortices of mice. She found that 15 percent of the mouse glia cells turned into neurons.
The features of these new neurons are still to be worked out, Peron said. “That’s the next step. Now that we have a system to get these cells converted we are currently studying their connectivity, functionality, and precise characteristics,” she told The Scientist.
Peron said any potential therapy using reprogrammed cells would have to be able to produce specific neural subtypes, which may require additional steps to guide the cells in the right direction.
Other groups are working to convert reactive astrocytes—a form of glial ...
