1. A NeuroD1 AAV-Based Gene Therapy for Functional Brain Repair after Ischemic Injury through In Vivo Astrocyte-to-Neuron Conversion.
- Author
-
Chen YC, Ma NX, Pei ZF, Wu Z, Do-Monte FH, Keefe S, Yellin E, Chen MS, Yin JC, Lee G, Minier-Toribio A, Hu Y, Bai YT, Lee K, Quirk GJ, and Chen G
- Subjects
- Action Potentials, Animals, Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors metabolism, Dependovirus genetics, Disease Models, Animal, Male, Mice, Mice, Transgenic, Nerve Degeneration therapy, Neuroglia metabolism, Rats, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Treatment Outcome, Astrocytes metabolism, Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors genetics, Brain Ischemia therapy, Cellular Reprogramming genetics, Genetic Therapy methods, Neurons metabolism
- Abstract
Adult mammalian brains have largely lost neuroregeneration capability except for a few niches. Previous studies have converted glial cells into neurons, but the total number of neurons generated is limited and the therapeutic potential is unclear. Here, we demonstrate that NeuroD1-mediated in situ astrocyte-to-neuron conversion can regenerate a large number of functional new neurons after ischemic injury. Specifically, using NeuroD1 adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene therapy, we were able to regenerate one third of the total lost neurons caused by ischemic injury and simultaneously protect another one third of injured neurons, leading to a significant neuronal recovery. RNA sequencing and immunostaining confirmed neuronal recovery after cell conversion at both the mRNA level and protein level. Brain slice recordings found that the astrocyte-converted neurons showed robust action potentials and synaptic responses at 2 months after NeuroD1 expression. Anterograde and retrograde tracing revealed long-range axonal projections from astrocyte-converted neurons to their target regions in a time-dependent manner. Behavioral analyses showed a significant improvement of both motor and cognitive functions after cell conversion. Together, these results demonstrate that in vivo cell conversion technology through NeuroD1-based gene therapy can regenerate a large number of functional new neurons to restore lost neuronal functions after injury., (Copyright © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF