A Refined Approach to Isolate Interneurons for High-Validity Epigenetic Studies in Human Brain Tissue
Epigenetic research has made notable progress in recent years, yet our ability to explore the human brain at a cellular level remains limited. One of the main obstacles has been the difficulty of isolating specific neuronal populations from postmortem tissue—particularly interneurons, which play a c...
| Autores: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Formato: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2025 |
| País: | España |
| Recursos: | Universidad de Málaga |
| Repositorio: | DDFV. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Francisco de Vitoria |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:ddfv.ufv.es:10641/6840 |
| Acesso em linha: | https://hdl.handle.net/10641/6840 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palavra-chave: | brain epigenetics cortical interneurons human brain tissue neuronal isolation Biotechnology Structural Biology Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (miscellaneous) Journal Article Yes yes |
| Resumo: | Epigenetic research has made notable progress in recent years, yet our ability to explore the human brain at a cellular level remains limited. One of the main obstacles has been the difficulty of isolating specific neuronal populations from postmortem tissue—particularly interneurons, which play a central role in many psychiatric disorders. In this study, we present a practical and reproducible protocol for isolating GAD-positive interneurons from human brain samples. We isolate permeabilized cell-like structures suitable for downstream epigenetic analysis. To ensure specificity, we validated the isolated cells by comparing them with interneurons derived from human iPSCs. This approach allows for high-quality DNA extraction suitable for downstream epigenetic analysis, including methylation-specific PCR. By targeting a well-defined neuronal subtype, our method provides a solid foundation for studying the molecular changes associated with disorders such as schizophrenia and autism. This protocol opens new doors for cell-specific investigations in brain tissue, a step forward in understanding how epigenetic mechanisms contribute to neuropsychiatric pathophysiology. |
|---|