Astrocyte-to-Neuron Method Reverses Neurodegeneration in Mice

Good news!



"Instead of adding transcription factors, [researchers] new approach relies on removing an inhibitor of neurogenesis. Work from his lab had shown that the RNA binding protein PTB prevents the activation of neuronal factors in non-neuronal cells and that deleting it could convert fibroblasts into neurons in culture. ...

Using genetically engineered mice in which astrocyte-specific production of PTB could be switched off at will by injecting a silencing RNA, the team observed that several weeks after PTB depletion, the cells began producing neuronal markers, with the number of ex-astrocytes producing such markers increasing as the weeks went by."



Astrocyte-to-Neuron Method Reverses Neurodegeneration in Mice | The Scientist Magazine® The cell conversion strategy restores neurons and motor functions lost as a result of an induced Parkinson’s-like illness in the animals.