Abstract
Interspecies chimeras offer great potential for regenerative medicine and the creation of human disease models. Whether human pluripotent stem cell-derived neurons in an interspecies chimera can differentiate into functional neurons and integrate into host neural circuity is not known. Here, we show, using Engrailed 1 (En1) as a development niche, that human naive-like embryonic stem cells (ESCs) can incorporate into embryonic and adult mouse brains. Human-derived neurons including tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)+ neurons integrate into the mouse brain at low efficiency. These TH+ neurons have electrophysiologic properties consistent with their human origin. In addition, these human-derived neurons in the mouse brain accumulate pathologic phosphorylated α-synuclein in response to α-synuclein preformed fibrils. Optimization of human/mouse chimeras could be used to study human neuronal differentiation and human brain disorders.
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