In vivo chemical reprogramming of astrocytes into neurons.

In mammals, many organs lack robust regenerative abilities. Lost cells in impaired tissue could potentially be compensated by converting nearby cells in situ through in vivo reprogramming. Small molecule-induced cell reprogramming offers a temporally flexible and non-integrative strategy for altering cell fate, which is, in principle, favorable for in vivo reprogramming in organs with notoriously poor regenerative abilities, such as the brain.