By Emily Da Cruz, Mohamad Mikati, PhD

Division of Pediatric Neurology and Developmental Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Duke University

Department of Neurobiology, Duke University

Abstract

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have been demonstrated to be a valuable tool in modeling diseases, investigating drug mechanisms, and understanding manifestations of disease in specific cell types. In the field of neurology, current studies are investigating the use of iPSCs as a regenerative therapy, which could be extremely beneficial for understanding and treating neurodegenerative diseases. While iPSCs have been used in various studies, a lack of familiarity with all available protocols for neuronal differentiation makes it difficult to identify best practices. Further, because neurological diseases can selectively impact certain types of neurons, it is useful to compile protocols to make different neuronal types. In this article, methods of differentiating iPSCs into various neuron subtypes are described in order to provide a consolidated list of protocols that will aid the analysis of suitable and available methods for specific research protocols. By compiling and summarizing these various methods, future studies can determine which methods are best for their specific research goals, regarding timing, efficiency, and accuracy.

Keywords: stem cells; iPSC; cell differentiation; neurons