Modeling Psychiatric Disorder Biology with Stem Cells

AbstractPurpose of ReviewWe review the ways in which stem cells are used in psychiatric disease research, including the related advances in gene editing and directed cell differentiation.Recent FindingsThe recent development of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technologies has created new possibilities for the study of  psychiatric disease. iPSCs can be derived from patients or controls and differentiated to an array of neuronal and non-neuronal cell types. Their genomes can be edited as desired, and they can be assessed for a variety of phenotypes. This makes them especially interesting for studying genetic vari ation, which is particularly useful today now that our knowledge on the genetics of psychiatric disease is quickly expanding.SummaryThe recent advances in cell engineering have led to powerful new methods for studying psychiatric illness including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and autism. There is a wide array of possible applications as illustrated by the many examples from the literature, most of which are cited here.
Source: Current Psychiatry Reports - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research