Differentiation of neural stem cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells into dopaminergic neurons

Abstract

Dopaminergic (DA) neurons are involved in many critical functions within the central nervous system (CNS), and dopamine neurotransmission impairment underlies a wide range of disorders from motor control deficiencies, such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), to psychiatric disorders, such as alcoholism, drug addictions, bipolar disorders, schizophrenia and depression. Neural stem cell-based technology has potential to play an important role in developing efficacious biological and small molecule therapeutic products for disorders with dopamine dysregulation. Various methods of differentiating DA neurons from pluripotent stem cells have been reported. In this chapter, we describe a simple technique using dopamine-inducing factors (DIFs) to differentiate neural stem cells (NSCs), isolated from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) into DA neurons.