The BE (2)-M17 cell line has a better dopaminergic phenotype than the traditionally used for Parkinson´s research SH-SY5Y, which is mostly serotonergic.

SH-SY5Y is a cell line derived from human neuroblastoma. It is one of the most widely used models to study Parkinson's disease. Surprisingly, it has been found that it does not develop a dopaminergic phenotype after differentiation, questioning its usefulness as a Parkinson's model. There are other models with better dopaminergic characteristics. BE (2)-M17 is a human neuroblastoma cell line that differentiates when treated with retinoic acid. We compared the dopaminergic and serotonergic properties of both cell lines. BE (2)-M17 has higher basal levels of dopaminergic markers and acquires a serotonergic phenotype during differentiation while maintaining the dopaminergic phenotype. SH-SY5Y has higher basal levels of serotonergic markers but does not acquire a dopaminergic phenotype upon differentiation.