Poster #: 97
cAMP/PKA-LATS Activation Enables Engraftment in the Hippocampus
Mentors: Nicole Womack, Irving Weissman, M.D.
Brain damage in numerous neurological diseases leads to cognitive decline, yet many therapies aimed at restoring brain cell function fail due to poor integration. We investigated whether we could direct neural stem cells (NSCs) to the hippocampus, a region critical for memory and learning, and neuronal differentiation by treating them with a cAMP/PKA-LATS kinase activator. NSCs were treated in culture for 5 days, followed by in vitro differentiation and examination of cell fate bias by immunostaining for mature cell makers. We also observed an increase in neuronal cell fate bias compared to untreated controls. To assess differentiation in vivo, treated NSCs were previously transplanted into the brains of neonatal mice and after four months we observed significant hippocampal-specific engraftment. Our results suggest that treatment can bias NSCs toward neuronal fates and hippocampal-specific integration, highlighting a potential strategy for guiding human NSC integration in the hippocampus for cognitive disorder therapies.