Astrocyte-Derived Neuronal Transdifferentiation as a Therapy for Ischemic Stroke: Advances and Challenges

After the onset of ischemic stroke, ischemia-hypoxic cascades cause irreversible neuronal death. Neurons are the fundamental structures of the central nervous system, and mature neurons do not renew or multiply after death. Functional and structural recovery from neurological deficits caused by ischemic attack is a huge task. Hence, there remains a need to replace the lost neurons relying on endogenous neurogenesis or exogenous stem cell-based neuronal differentiation. However, the stem cell source difficulty and the risk of immune rejection of the allogeneic stem cells might hinder the wide clinical application of the above therapy. With the advancement of transdifferentiation induction technology, it has been demonstrated that astrocytes can be converted to neurons through ectopic expression or the knockdown of specific components. The progress and problems of astrocyte transdifferentiation will be discussed in this article.