Directly Reprogrammed Human Neurons to Understand Age-Related Energy Metabolism Impairment and Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Healthy Aging and Neurodegeneration

Figure 4

iNs exhibit age-related mitochondrial impairments. Emerging therapeutic strategies target mitochondrial function and improve neuronal and brain energetics because of their key role in neurodegenerative diseases associated with age. iNs retain age-related mitochondrial impairments, including morphological, functional, and stress-related features, in contrast to other models, such as murine embryonic cultures from disease models or wild-type animals treated with neurotoxic stressors, and also, iPSC-derived neurons, which, in most cases, require additional stressors or more extended culture periods to exhibit age or NDD-associated mitochondrial phenotypes.