Stem Cells as In Vitro Model of Parkinson's Disease

Figure 1

Possible cellular sources for modeling Parkinson’s disease in vitro. Somatic cells from patient with PD can be reprogrammed into iPSC and differentiated into mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons (1a)–(5). ESC and NPC can be genetically modified by inserting specific mutations related with PD and be differentiated. Alternatively, somatic cells can be directly converted into dopaminergic neurons (1b).