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Generation of human A9 dopaminergic pacemakers from induced pluripotent stem cells

Molecular Psychiatry volume 27, pages 4407–4418 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

The degeneration of nigral (A9) dopaminergic (DA) neurons causes motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease (PD). We use small-molecule compounds to direct the differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to A9 DA neurons that share many important properties with their in vivo counterparts. The method generates a large percentage of TH+ neurons that express appropriate A9 markers, such as GIRK2 and ALDH1A1, but mostly not the A10 marker CALBINDIN. Functionally, they exhibit autonomous pacemaking based on L-type voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels and show autoreceptor-dependent regulation of dopamine release. When transplanted in the striatum of 6-OHDA-lesioned athymic rats, the human A9 DA neurons manifest robust survival and axon outgrowth, and ameliorate motor deficits in the rat PD model. The ability to generate patient-specific A9 DA autonomous pacemakers will significantly improve PD research and facilitate the development of disease-modifying therapies.

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Fig. 1: An existing floor plate-based protocol has different efficacies in differentiating human iPSCs and hESCs to midbrain DA neurons.
Fig. 2: Optimizing the differentiation of human iPSCs to floor plate DA progenitors.
Fig. 3: Optimal timing of dual SMAD inhibitors for the generation of midbrain DA neurons.
Fig. 4: Generation of midbrain floor plate DA progenitors from human iPSCs using small-molecule compounds.
Fig. 5: Differentiation of midbrain floor plate DA progenitors to A9 DA neurons.
Fig. 6: Physiological properties of iPSC-derived A9 dopaminergic pacemakers.
Fig. 7: Grafting iPSC-derived A9 DA neurons in rat brains.

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Acknowledgements

We thank E.F. Trachtman for support and Meredith A. Juncker for reading the manuscript.

Funding

The work is supported in part by NYSTEM Contract C30290GG (fellowship for H.L.), National Institutes of Health grants NS102148 (J.F.), NS113763 (J.F.), and US Department of Veterans Affairs Merit Award BX003831 (J.F). VA resources are not used on human embryonic stem cells.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Hong Li, Houbo Jiang.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology and Biophysics, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, 14203, USA

    Hong Li, Houbo Jiang, Hanqin Li, Li Li, Zhen Yan & Jian Feng

  2. Veterans Affairs Western New York Healthcare System, Buffalo, NY, 14215, USA

    Houbo Jiang, Zhen Yan & Jian Feng

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Contributions

Conceptualization J.F., H.J. and H.L. Methodology: H.L., H.J., Z.Y., and J.F. Investigation: H.L. and H.J. performed most of the experiments and data analyses. H.L. performed electrophysiology experiments under the guidance of Z.Y.; Hq.L., H.J., and H.L. performed transplantation. L.L. performed statistical reanalysis of data. Writing: J.F., H.L., and H.J., with input from Hq.L., L.L. and Z.Y.

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Correspondence to Jian Feng.

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Li, H., Jiang, H., Li, H. et al. Generation of human A9 dopaminergic pacemakers from induced pluripotent stem cells. Mol Psychiatry 27, 4407–4418 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01628-1

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