Turning glial cells into neurons

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Brian4
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Turning glial cells into neurons

Post by Brian4 »

This is amazing work!

Simple drug combination creates new neurons from neighboring cells
February, 7, 2019

http://science.psu.edu/news-and-events/ ... Chen2-2019

"By using four molecules that modulate four critical signaling pathways in human astrocytes, we can efficiently turn human astrocytes—as many as 70 percent—into functional neurons."
ε4/ε4 (for now).
NF52
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Re: Turning glial cells into neurons

Post by NF52 »

Fascinating study! And with current funding from NIH and Alz. Assn., it seems likely they will continue to be funded for this work. I especially admire the commitment to developing a drug that would be economical for developing countries to use!
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mike
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Re: Turning glial cells into neurons

Post by mike »

So, having had a stroke, I could see how this would be useful. Not as clear if the same would be true in AD... In the case of a stroke, you're trying to rebuild a prior damaged neuron or more likely neural network, whereas in AD, what is being repaired? Memories? Those are more the dendritic connections, and I doubt you're getting those back. Maybe you could rebuild enough neurons to allow for new memory creation?
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