Fig. 3.

5C medium converts astrocytes to functional neurons. a Rat astrocytes and mouse NPCs were stained for GFAP, TuJ, and Nestin on day 0. Rat astrocytes were then cultured with 5C, FBS, and NC medium for 14 days and were stained for Nestin and TuJ. NC medium was used for additional 12 days before further characterization with antibodies against GABA, glutamate, and Map2. b–f Rat astrocyte-converted neurons are functional in vitro at day 26. Representative recordings of voltage-gated ion channels from an astrocyte-converted neuron. Both an outward current and an inward current were observed, and the inward currents were blocked by tetrodotoxin (TTX). b Astrocyte-converted neurons showed neuronal typical trains of action potentials in response to intracellular step current injections of 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 pA. c Astrocyte-converted neurons showed bicuculline-sensitive inhibitory postsynaptic currents in response to GABA puffs (d), DNQX-AP5-sensitive excitatory postsynaptic currents in response to glutamate puffs (e), and spontaneous postsynaptic currents (PSCs) (f). g–h 5C medium and saline were infused into the mice brain for 14 days. Brain slides were analyzed on day 28 (g) and on day 14 (h) with antibodies against GFAP and NeuN. In g, regions I–II were marked in the largest pictures and enlarged by six times. The region with interest in region I of two groups was also marked and enlarged by another four times. In h, the region with interest was marked and enlarged by two times. Scale bars were provided for the largest image in each panel