A team of researchers from the Institute of Neurosciences (UBneuro) and Institute of Complex Systems (UBICS) of the University of Barcelona has demonstrated that neurons can be generated from skin cells of a human donor using a cellular reprogramming technology. According to the obtained results, these neurons are able to integrate into human brain tissue when transplanted into a small piece of the brain from a human donor.

Using state-of-the-art technology including virus-based monosynaptic neuronal tracing and electrophysiological recordings, researchers demonstrated that grafted cells integrate into an already established neuronal network – present in a slice of brain cortex from a human donor – receiving inputs and establishing synaptic contacts with the neurons of the slice.

‘This is a very important advance in the treatment of brain damage because most of the studies carried out to demonstrate the feasibility of stem cell transplantation as therapy have been conducted using animal models, such as mice or rats. In this study, it has been established a method to prove that these therapies are also efficient when transplanting human cells into human tissue,’ notes Daniel Tornero, professor at the University of Barcelona and member of the Institute of Neurosciences of the UB.

‘Moreover, the fact that grafted cells can be obtained from human skin cells allows for allogeneic transplantation, i.e. transplantation of cells obtained from the same patient, avoiding graft rejection and ethical concerns associated with this kind of therapies,’ adds Tornero.

The researcher notes that thanks to the collaboration with Professor Jordi Soriano, from the Faculty of Physics of UB, they combined stem cell biology techniques with physical perspective in the analysis of neuronal network functionality. This collaboration allowed the researchers to reach a better understanding of the complexity of the experimental model and delineate future strategies for therapeutic treatments.

*** Image credit: Freepik