human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neuronal stem cells treated with several substances and doses

Food and drinks are the most general sources of not only the nutrients but also neuronal effective substances including neuro toxins. In the industrialized modern countries, several new foods and supplements that have poor intake experiences are entering in market. In addition to the absolute neurotoxins, daily food containing neuronal effective substances like caffeine strongly requires that we should know how much doses cause the effects from beneficial to harmful. Neuronal effect is mainly tested using animals. However in consideration of animal welfare, various non-animal means to predict neurotoxicity have to be developed. Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are one of such ideal resources applicable to toxicological screening systems, because they can infinitely provide various types of neuronal cells with less ethical issues. This project aims to reveal gene-expression-changes of hiPSC-derived neuronal stem cell (iNSCs) caused by the treatment with several known neuro-affective substances and food-derived neuro-active substance caffeine with low and high doses.