Directly converted astrocytes retain the ageing features of the donor fibroblasts and elucidate the astrocytic contribution to human CNS health and disease.

ABSTRACT: Astrocytes are highly specialised cells, responsible for CNS homeostasis and neuronal activity. Lack of human in vitro systems able to recapitulate the functional changes affecting astrocytes during ageing represents a major limitation to studying mechanisms and potential therapies aiming to preserve neuronal health. Here, we show that induced astrocytes from fibroblasts donors in their childhood or adulthood display age-related transcriptional differences and functionally diverge in a spectrum of age-associated features, such as altered nuclear compartmentalisation, nucleocytoplasmic shuttling properties, oxidative stress response and DNA damage response. Remarkably, we also show an age-related differential response of induced neural progenitor cells derived astrocytes (iNPC-As) in their

SUBMITTER: Gatto N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7811849 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature