Cited research: PLoS Biol. 8, e1000373 (2010)

The brain's glial cells support and protect neurons. Evidence suggests that certain glial cells, called astroglia, can be reprogrammed in vitro to become neurons, raising hopes that such cells could be used in brain repair. However, these neurons fail to establish functional synapses — connections that enable communication between cells.

Magdalena Götz and Benedikt Berninger at the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich in Germany manipulated gene expression in astroglia taken from the brains of newborn mice. They generated neurons complete with synapses in vitro by inducing higher and more persistent expression of certain gene-regulating proteins that had been induced in previous studies. They also found that distinct regulatory proteins instruct the formation of different neuronal subtypes. L.O.-S.