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Honing the Double-Edged Sword: Improving Human iPSC-Microglia Models
Abstract
Human induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (hiPSC) models are a valuable new tool for research into neurodegenerative diseases. Neuroinflammation is now recognized as a key process in neurodegenerative disease and aging, and microglia are central players in this. A plethora of hiPSC-derived microglial models have been published recently to explore neuroinflammation, ranging from monoculture through to xenotransplantation. However, combining physiological relevance, reproducibility, and scalability into one model is still a challenge. We examine key features of the in vitro microglial environment, especially media composition, extracellular matrix, and co-culture, to identify areas for improvement in current hiPSC-microglia models.
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“However, our sample size of two donors per group may have been insufficient to detect subtle differences, while more physiological conditions, such as co-cultures with other cell types [124], may be necessary to reveal such changes in future studies.”
From microRNA-132 attenuates inflammation in induced pluripotent stem cell-derived microglia from Alzheimer’s disease patients (2026) · cites this paper as [124]
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BackgroundAn environment-dependent transcriptional network specifies human microglia identity
Gosselin, D., Skola, D., Coufal, N. G., Holtman, I. R., Schlachetzki, J. C. M., Sajti, E., Jaeger, B. N., O’Connor, C., Fitzpatrick, C., Pasillas, M. P., et al. (2017) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aal3222 · Cited by 1,220
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Penning, A., Snoeck, S., Ormaechea, O. R., Ayyildiz, D., Polzer, O., Buitrago-Arango, M., Capobianco, R., de Winter, F., Balusu, S., Verhaagen, J., et al. (2026) · Acta Neuropathologica Communications · doi:10.1186/s40478-026-02228-8 · Cited by 6
Metadata
- Authors
- Hedegaard, A., Stodolak, S., James, W. S., & Cowley, S. A.
- Venue
- Frontiers in Immunology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2020-12-08
- Volume
- 11
- ISSN
- 1664-3224
- PMC
- PMC7753623
- Cited by
- 29
- References
- 21
- Funders
- Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
- Eli Lilly and Company
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