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About the Authors:
Lindsay A. Bliss
Affiliation: Section on Neuropathology, Clinical Brain Disorders Branch, Division of Intramural Research Programs, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
Malik R. Sams
Affiliation: Section on Neuropathology, Clinical Brain Disorders Branch, Division of Intramural Research Programs, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
Amy Deep-Soboslay
Affiliation: Section on Neuropathology, Clinical Brain Disorders Branch, Division of Intramural Research Programs, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
Renee Ren-Patterson
Affiliation: Section on Neuropathology, Clinical Brain Disorders Branch, Division of Intramural Research Programs, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
Andrew E. Jaffe
Affiliation: Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
Josh G. Chenoweth
Affiliation: Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
Amritha Jaishankar
Affiliation: Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
Joel E. Kleinman
Affiliation: Section on Neuropathology, Clinical Brain Disorders Branch, Division of Intramural Research Programs, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America
Thomas M. Hyde
* E-mail: [email protected]
Affiliation: Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
Introduction
Living fibroblasts can be cultured from human cadavers for use in induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) generation. This is particularly valuable to test the biological fidelity of the mature cells derived from ordinarily inaccessible tissue and then compared back to the primary cells from the same individual. For example, a number of studies have generated cells with a neuronal phenotype from fibroblasts derived from living subjects, as previously reviewed [1]. Other than olfactory epithelium, it is virtually impossible to biopsy neurons to compare to those derived from fibroblasts from the same individual [2].
Fibroblasts can be converted into iPSCs, which can further be differentiated into neurons [3], [4]. Two groups to date have cultured fibroblasts from postmortem human dermal tissue samples [5], [6]. Meske and colleagues generated human fibroblast cultures from postmortem abdominal skin biopsies [5]. In addition, Hjelm and...