Differentiation of Mature Dopaminergic Neurons from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Reprogramming of somatic cells like blood cells and fibroblasts to obtain human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) has become a state-of-the-art tool to study human diseases. The self-renewable hiPSCs offer ease of genetic modifications and can be differentiated into any cell type of the human body ranging from hepatocytes, cardiac myocytes, and subtypes of neurons. Dopaminergic (DA) neurons are one such neuronal subtype that is largely present in the midbrain region of the human brain and controls several functions like voluntary movement, reward, addiction, and stress. Loss of DA neurons is associated with one of the most common neurological disorders, Parkinson's disease (PD). Here, we describe a small molecule-directed approach for the generation of functionally mature dopaminergic neurons through the differentiation of hiPSCs. Differentiated DA neurons can be used to study their role in (patho)physiology.