Regeneration Through in vivo Cell Fate Reprogramming for Neural Repair

The adult mammalian central nervous system (CNS) has very limited regenerative capacity upon neural injuries or under degenerative conditions. In recent years, however, significant progress has been made on in vivo cell fate reprogramming for neural regeneration. Resident glial cells can be reprogrammed into neuronal progenitors and mature neurons in the CNS of adult mammals. In this review article, we briefly summarize the current knowledge on innate adult neurogenesis under pathological conditions and then focus on induced neurogenesis through cell fate reprogramming. We discuss how the reprogramming process can be regulated and raise critical issues requiring careful considerations to move the field forward. With emerging evidence, we envision that fate reprogramming-based regenerative medicine will have a great potential for treating neurological conditions such as brain injury, spinal cord injury (SCI), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and retinopathy.

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  In vivo neural reprogramming has achieved impressive progress, ranging from generation of diverse glia-converted neurons in multiple CNS regions to functional improvements for certain neurological conditions.
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  Such a reprogramming-based approach may kill two birds with one stone: regeneration of functional neurons and modulation of pathological microenvironment.
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  Nonetheless, efforts should be taken to vigorously validate the cell origin for the claimed new neurons and to tease out the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the reprogramming progress.