Aberrant CHCHD2-associated mitochondriopathy in Kii ALS/PDC astrocytes.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/Parkinsonism-Dementia Complex (ALS/PDC), a rare and complex neurological disorder, is predominantly observed in the Western Pacific islands, including regions of Japan, Guam, and Papua. This enigmatic condition continues to capture medical attention due to affected patients displaying symptoms that parallel those seen in either classical amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Parkinson's disease (PD). Distinctly, postmortem examinations of the brains of affected individuals have shown the presence of α-synuclein aggregates and TDP-43, which are hallmarks of PD and classical ALS, respectively.

Estradiol enhanced neuronal plasticity and ameliorated astrogliosis in human iPSC-derived neural models.

Introduction: 17β-Estradiol (E2) is a sex hormone that has been previously demonstrated to have neurotherapeutic effects on animal models of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, clinical trials on E2 replacement therapy for preventing AD onset yielded inconsistent results. Therefore, it is imperative to clarify the therapeutic effects of E2 on human cells.

Urine-derived cells from the aged donor for the 2D/3D modeling of neural cells via iPSCs.

Human neural cell models derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have been widely accepted to model various neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) . Although the most common sources of iPSCs are fibroblasts and peripheral blood mononuclear cells, the collection of these cells is invasive. To reduce the donor's burden, we propose the use of urine-derived cells (UDCs), which can be obtained non-invasively from a urine sample.