Acute reduction in oxygen tension enhances the induction of neurons from human fibroblasts

• Our results show that lowering the O2 tension at initiation of reprogramming is a simple and efficient manner to enhance the production of iN cells.
• The acute drop in O2 tension did not affect cell proliferation or cell survival.
• Growth in low O2 yields more functional iN cells but the maturation stage of the cells is equivalent to those established and reprogrammed under normoxic conditions.
• Blockade of GSK3β and Smad-mediated pathways during iN reprogramming does not act synergistically with reprogramming under hypoxic conditions.

We and others have reported the successful conversion of human fibroblasts into functional induced neuronal (iN) cells; however the reprogramming efficiencies were very low. Robust reprogramming methods must be developed before iN cells can be used for translational applications such as disease modeling or transplantation-based therapies. Here, we describe a novel approach in which we significantly enhance iN cell conversion efficiency of human fibroblast cells by reprogramming under hypoxic conditions (5% O2). Fibroblasts were derived under high (21%) or low (5%) oxygen conditions and reprogrammed into iN cells using a combination of the four transcription factors BRN2, ASCL1, MYT1L and NEUROD1. An increase in Map2 immunostaining was only observed when fibroblasts experienced an acute drop in O2 tension upon infection. Interestingly, cells derived and reprogrammed under hypoxic conditions did not produce more iN cells. Approximately 100% of patched cells fired action potentials in low O2 conditions compared to 50% under high O2 growth conditions, confirming the beneficial aspect of reprogramming under low O2. Further characterization showed no significant difference in the intrinsic properties of iN cells reprogrammed in either condition. Surprisingly, the acute drop in oxygen tension did not affect cell proliferation or cell survival and was not synergistic with the blockade of GSK3β and Smad-mediated pathways. Our results showed that lowering the O2 tension at the initiation of reprogramming is a simple and efficient stratergy to enhance the production of iN cells which will facilitate their use for basic discovery and regenerative medicine.

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