Abstract

Progress in the Use of Human Stem Cells to Predict Developmental Neurotoxicity

Robert Halliwell, Professor in the School of Pharmacy and the School of Dentistry, University of The Pacific

Current methods to assess the risks of damage to the developing nervous system from prenatal exposure to drugs rely heavily on animal models that are inefficient, costly and of poor predictive validity; there are also ethical concerns about using large numbers of animals in biomedical research. Ready availability of a variety of human stem cells and their potential to differentiate in to functional neurons (neurogenesis) is a powerful new platform to model development of the nervous system in a dish and to determine the impact of drugs and environmental agents on these processes. Our lab is investigating the potential of a variety of human stem cells to differentiate to functional neurons and glia and we are also examining their value to indicate (or predict) developmental neurotoxicity from a range of neuropsychiatric medicines. This presentation will provide new data from our lab on the impact of a range of anticonvulsant agents on stem cell viability, proliferation, neural differentiation and electrophysiological properties.