AUTHOR=Lee Yukyeong , Kim C-Yoon , Lee Hye Jeong , Kim Jae Gon , Han Dong Wook , Ko Kisung , Walter James , Chung Hyung-Min , Schöler Hans R. , Bae Young Min , Ko Kinarm 

TITLE=Two-Step Generation of Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cells From Mouse Fibroblasts for Spinal Cord Injury

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2018

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fncel.2018.00198

DOI=10.3389/fncel.2018.00198

ISSN=1662-5102

ABSTRACT=Oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) are attracting attention as the ideal cell therapy for spinal cord injury (SCI). Recently, advanced programming techniques have made it possible to generate patient-specific cells for treating SCI. In the present study, we used directly-induced neural stem cells from fibroblasts to establish OPCs (DN-OPCs) capable of proliferation, and confirmed their OPC-specific characteristics. Also, we evaluated the effect of transplanted DN-OPCs on SCI in rats. The DN-OPCs exhibited an OPC-specific phenotype and electrophysiological function, and could be differentiated into oligodendrocytes. In the SCI model, transplanted DN-OPCs improved behavior recovery, and showed engraftment into the host spinal cord with expression of myelin basic protein. These results suggest that DN-OPCs could be a new source of potentially useful cells for treating SCI.