Long-term calcium imaging reveals functional development in hiPSC derived cultures comparable to human but not rat primary cultures (TFG)

Abstract

Human brains are often modelled based on primary cultures from rodents, mostly rats, which do not replicate well its complexity. Here, the advantages of neuronal cultures derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are studied and compared with rat and human primary cultures. Data is obtained from spontaneous activity recordings using calcium fluorescence imaging, and analysed in the context of complex networks to obtain the functional connectivity traits of the different conditions. hiPSCs cultures showed rich activity patterns and functional features. Ratcultures, by contrast, had a very rigid activity and poor functional traits. Human primary cultures had a similar behaviour as hiPSCs. Our study shows that hiPSC technology is an excellent tool to model human–like networks in vitro, which may help to better model alterations caused by damage or neurodegeneration