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Review
. 2017 Sep;22(9):1241-1249.
doi: 10.1038/mp.2017.40. Epub 2017 Mar 21.

Pluripotent stem cells in neuropsychiatric disorders

M A Soliman  1   2 , F Aboharb  1   3 , N Zeltner  2 , L Studer  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Pluripotent stem cells in neuropsychiatric disorders

M A Soliman et al. Mol Psychiatry. 2017 Sep.

Abstract

Neuropsychiatric disorders place an enormous medical burden on patients across all social and economic ranks. The current understanding of the molecular and cellular causes of neuropsychiatric disease remains limited, which leads to a lack of targeted therapies. Human-induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology offers a novel platform for modeling the genetic contribution to mental disorders and yields access to patient-specific cells for drug discovery and personalized medicine. Here, we review recent progress in using iPSC technology to model and potentially treat neuropsychiatric disorders by focusing on the most prevalent conditions in psychiatry, including depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Graphic representation of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), years lived with disability (YLDs) and years of life lost (YLLs). (b) Graph representing the DALY burden of leading neuropsychiatric disorders, as well as comparable non-neuropsychiatric diseases.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic representation of induced pluripotent stem cell generation and application. A biopsy is taken from a patient (skin, blood or other tissues). Patient cells are reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells and differentiated into the neuronal cell types of interest. Patient-derived neurons could be used for elucidating disease mechanism, high-throughput drug screening, drug testing and toxicity studies, biomarker identification and patient stratification. iPSC, human-induced pluripotent stem cell.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Timeline of iPSC technology development. Developments of neuropsychiatric disease models are represented on the lower side of the timeline panel, whereas developments in generating specific neuronal cell populations are represented in the upper part of the panel. BPD, bipolar disorder; iPSC, human-induced pluripotent stem cell; SCZ, schizophrenia.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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