MOSCOW, 9 Aug. Scientists from Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU), together with colleagues from the Center for Cellular Technologies of the Institute of Cytology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, have improved the method for obtaining human neurons from skin cells. According to them, this will simplify the study and develop new strategies for the treatment of Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. The results of the study were published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.
Modeling neuropathologies on neurons derived from other cells using cellular reprogramming is the key to developing strategies for treating neurodegenerative diseases, the scientists explained. According to them, this approach allows building personalized models based on the cellular material of specific patients.
Direct reprogramming is a new method in which adult neurons can be obtained directly from fibroblasts by introducing special structures from DNA and small molecules. But the problem lies in the low efficiency — only from three to 15 percent of cells survive after such a transformation.
Specialists from St. Petersburg Polytechnic University and the Center for Cellular Technologies have achieved cell survival at the level of 80 percent.
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“Unlike neurons, fibroblasts are dividing cells, and at the time of transformation they can be at different stages of the cell cycle, which significantly affects the success of the procedure. Our main idea is the synchronization of cell cycles in the starting material due to the addition of a special substance, rapamycin. We have also optimized a number of other aspects in this technology,” explained Nina Kraskovskaya, junior researcher at the Laboratory of Molecular Neurodegeneration of the Institute of Biomedical Systems and Biotechnology at SPbPU.
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According to the authors, the method they proposed makes it possible to obtain large populations of neurons with the same protein composition. This will significantly reduce the error in the construction of personalized models and facilitate the interpretation of studies of neurodegenerative diseases.
Thus, the researchers emphasize that they have already developed the use of a new method for studying Huntington's disease, and are now creating cellular models for Alzheimer's disease.
«Our approach has been successfully tested on healthy cells. We continue to study using fibroblasts from real patients in order to evaluate the effectiveness of drugs that have already been tested in animal models,» Kraskovskaya said.
The work was supported by a grant from the Russian Scientific fund №22-75-00106.
July 10, 09:00