Martin H Berryer, Matthew Tegtmeyer, Loïc Binan, Vera Valakh, Anna Nathanson, Darina Trendafilova, Ethan Crouse, Jenny A Klein, Daniel Meyer, Olli Pietiläinen, Francesca Rapino, Samouil L Farhi, Lee L Rubin, Steven A McCarroll, Ralda Nehme, Lindy E Barrett
Emerging evidence of species divergent features of astrocytes coupled with the relative inaccessibility of human brain tissue underscore the utility of human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) technologies for the generation and study of human astrocytes. However, existing approaches for hPSC-astrocyte generation are typically lengthy or require intermediate purification steps. Here, we establish a rapid and highly scalable method for generating functional human induced astrocytes (hiAs). These hiAs express canonical astrocyte markers, respond to pro-inflammatory stimuli, exhibit ATP-induced calcium transients and support neuronal network development...
July 21, 2023: IScience