Human neurons to model aging: A dish best served old

Abstract

With the advancing age of humans and with it, growing numbers of age-related diseases, aging has become a major focus in recent research. The lack of fitting aging models, especially in neurological diseases where access to human brain samples is limited, has highlighted direct conversion into induced neurons (iN) as an important method to overcome this challenge. Contrary to iPSC reprogramming and its corresponding cell rejuvenation, the generation of iNs enables us to retain aging signatures throughout the conversion process and beyond. In this review, we explore different cell reprogramming methods in light of age-associated neurodegenerative diseases and discuss different approaches, advances, and limitations.