PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Yantao Ma
AU  - Handan Xie
AU  - Xiaomin Du
AU  - Lipeng Wang
AU  - Xueqin Jin
AU  - Shicheng Sun
AU  - Yanchuang Han
AU  - Yawen Han
AU  - Jun Xu
AU  - Zhuo Huang
AU  - Zhen Chai
AU  - Hongkui Dengi
TI  - <em>In vivo</em> Chemical Reprogramming of Astrocytes into Functional Neurons
AID  - 10.1101/305185
DP  - 2018 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 305185
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/04/20/305185.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/04/20/305185.full
AB  - Mammals lack robust regenerative abilities. Lost cells in impaired tissue could potentially be compensated by converting nearby cells in situ through in vivo reprogramming. Small molecule-induced reprogramming is a spatiotemporally flexible and non-integrative strategy for altering cell fate, which is, in principle, favorable for the in vivo reprogramming in organs with poor regenerative abilities, such as the brain. Here, we demonstrate that in the adult mouse brain, small molecules can reprogram resident astrocytes into functional neurons. The in situ chemically induced neurons (CiNs) resemble endogenous neurons in terms of neuron-specific marker expression and electrophysiological properties. Importantly, these CiNs can integrate into the mouse brain. Our study, for the first time, demonstrates in vivo chemical reprogramming in the adult brain, which could be a novel path for generating desired cells in situ for regenerative medicine.