Neuronal Conversion of Dermal Fibroblasts as a Disease Model

Introduction: Disease modelling applications are gaining importance especially for the need of patient-specific studies. Because some cell types cannot be obtained from patients, somatic cell differentiation is needed for disease modelling. There are many methods for somatic cell reprogramming. Induced Pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and direct conversion are the main techniques. However, due to the disadvantages of iPSCs, such as expense, high mutation rate and differentiation defects, many researches choose direct conversion for reprogramming. Aim: In this study, we aimed to reprogram dermal fibroblasts into neurons with direct conversion in order them to be potentially used for patient-specific disease modelling applications. Materials and methods: Commercially purchased dermal fibroblasts were seeded on coverslips and then induced with a medium containing small chemicals for 24 hours. Cells were visualized by scanning electron microscopy and transcriptome analysis was done by next generation RNA sequencing. Results: Neuronal cell morphology was observed after 24 hour induction. According to the transcriptomic data, neuronal genes were upregulated. Conclusion: Dermal fibroblasts were successfully induced into neurons by direct conversion with using small chemicals