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Updated: May 2, 2026
Hypoxic Preconditioning of Marrow-derived Progenitor Cells As a Source for the Generation of Mature Schwann Cells
Published on: June 14, 2017
Generation of neural progenitor cells by chemical cocktails and hypoxia
Lin Cheng1, Wenxiang Hu1, Binlong Qiu1
1State Key Laboratory of Cell Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yueyang Road, Shanghai 200031, China.
Abstract:
Neural progenitor cells (NPCs) can be induced from somatic cells by defined factors. Here we report that NPCs can be generated from mouse embryonic fibroblasts by a chemical cocktail, namely VCR (V, VPA, an inhibitor of HDACs; C, CHIR99021, an inhibitor of GSK-3 kinases and R, Repsox, an inhibitor of TGF-β pathways), under a physiological hypoxic condition. These chemical-induced NPCs (ciNPCs) resemble mouse brain-derived NPCs regarding their proliferative and self-renewing abilities, gene expression profiles, and multipotency for different neuroectodermal lineages in vitro and in vivo. Further experiments reveal that alternative cocktails with inhibitors of histone deacetylation, glycogen synthase kinase, and TGF-β pathways show similar efficacies for ciNPC induction. Moreover, ciNPCs can also be induced from mouse tail-tip fibroblasts and human urinary cells with the same chemical cocktail VCR. Thus our study demonstrates that lineage-specific conversion of somatic cells to NPCs could be achieved by chemical cocktails without introducing exogenous factors.
Insights
Scientists created neural progenitor cells (NPCs) from somatic cells using a chemical cocktail (VCR) without genetic modification. This method efficiently converts various cell types into NPCs, offering a novel approach for regenerative medicine.
Area of Science:
- Stem Cell Biology
- Chemical Biology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Neural progenitor cells (NPCs) are crucial for neural development and can be derived from somatic cells.
- Current methods often involve genetic manipulation or complex culture conditions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a chemical-based method for inducing NPCs from somatic cells without exogenous factors.
- To characterize the properties of chemically induced NPCs (ciNPCs).
Main Methods:
- Treatment of mouse embryonic fibroblasts with a chemical cocktail (VCR: VPA, CHIR99021, Repsox) under hypoxia.
- Assessment of ciNPC proliferation, self-renewal, gene expression, and multipotency.
- Testing induction in other cell types like mouse tail-tip fibroblasts and human urinary cells.
Main Results:
- A chemical cocktail (VCR) successfully induced NPCs (ciNPCs) from mouse embryonic fibroblasts under hypoxia.
- ciNPCs exhibited characteristics similar to brain-derived NPCs, including proliferation, self-renewal, and multipotency.
- The VCR cocktail also induced ciNPCs from mouse tail-tip fibroblasts and human urinary cells, demonstrating broad applicability.
Conclusions:
- Somatic cells can be efficiently converted to NPCs using a defined chemical cocktail without genetic engineering.
- This chemical induction method provides a non-integrative and potentially safer alternative for generating NPCs for research and therapeutic applications.
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