Hypoxia-mediated neurogenesis assay

Patent Number: 6924142

This patent teaches the induction of differentiation of neural stem cells, the use of hypoxia for enhancing function, and the subsequent use of the cells obtained for drug screening. The patent has one independent claim that covers:

A method for screening the effects of drugs or other agents on neuronal cells, comprising:

a) preparing a cell culture comprising a cell population enriched in neuronal cells by (i) inducing multipotent neural stem cells to proliferate; (ii) exposing said multipotent neural stem cells to hypoxic conditions; and (iii) allowing said multipotent neural stem cells to differentiate into a differentiated cell population containing neuronal cells, wherein said differentiated cell population is enriched in neuronal cells compared to when step (ii) above is not performed;

b) contacting said enriched differentiated neuronal cell population with at least one drug or other agent; and c) determining if said drug or other agent has an effect on said enriched differentiated neuronal cell population.

View this patent on the USPTO website.