Access a toolkit of functional, consistent in vitro models to study neurodegenerative disease
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Powered by opti-ox
Glutamatergic neurons are the primary excitatory neurons of the central nervous system (CNS), essential for driving the synaptic signalling pathways that underlie cognition, learning, and memory. Dysfunction of these excitatory networks is implicated in a wide range of neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, Huntington鈥檚 disease, and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
The development of effective therapies for these conditions is currently hampered by the poor translational validity of animal models 鈥 where less than 10% of findings translate to humans 鈥 and the limitations of existing in vitro systems. Conventional protocols for differentiating human iPSCs into excitatory neurons often lead to heterogeneous cell populations. Moreover, the lack of isogenic controls complicates the study of specific disease mechanisms.
ioGlutamatergic Neurons are a rapidly maturing, consistent, and functional source of human iPSC-derived glutamatergic neurons that overcome these limitations. These cells are ready for experiments within days of thawing, can be easily integrated into multi-cell culture experiments and have been engineered to provide a portfolio of genetically matched, physiologically-relevant disease models.
ioGlutamatergic Neurons rapidly acquire a homogeneous neuronal phenotype upon thawing, as captured in this 7-day time course. Powered by opti-ox technology, these cells consistently convert to functional excitatory neurons characterised by >80% expression of glutamate transporter genes VGLUT1 and VGLUT2.
Delivered cryopreserved and ready-to-culture, ioGlutamatergic Neurons offer a highly defined, easy-to-use human model for translational research and drug discovery.
Bulk RNA-sequencing analysis of three independent lots of ioGlutamatergic Neurons reveals tight clustering at specific timepoints, demonstrating the manufacturing precision of opti-ox technology. Analysis of differentially expressed genes (|logFC| >0.5 and FDR <0.01) confirms no statistically significant variance between lots, ensuring users can rely on uniform performance and reproducible experimental data across every vial.
Prof. Marius Wernig and Dr. Mark Kotter discuss the paradigm shift of transcription factor-mediated cell programming and how opti-ox technology is industrialising the process. The speakers outline how this approach overcomes traditional variability to enable the scalable, precise manufacturing of human cells.
Raster plots generated using the capture the rapid development of functional networks in ioGlutamatergic Neurons co-cultured with human iPSC-derived astrocytes. Spontaneous activity observed at day 7 evolves into clear synchronised bursting by day 31, represented by vertical blue lines across 1,024 active electrodes. This confirms a rapidly maturing functional system ideal for assessing network dynamics and compound effects.
Co-culturing ioGlutamatergic Neurons, ioGABAergic Neurons, and hiPSC-derived astrocytes provides a physiologically relevant platform to study network hyperexcitability. As shown in the graphs (A) and raster plots (B), ioGABAergic Neurons functionally integrate to inhibit excitatory activity, reducing the number of spikes per network burst in a cell number-dependent manner. This robust multi-cell-culture can be used as a platform to model neurological conditions such as epilepsy, autism and schizophrenia in vitro.
ioGlutamatergic Neurons engineered with the PSEN1 M146L, APP V717I (London) and APP KM670/671NL (Swedish) mutations recapitulate the changes in A尾 peptide ratios observed in Alzheimer鈥檚 disease patients. This demonstrates their validity as an in vitro model to study Alzheimer's disease and for the discovery of drugs targeting the pathogenic A尾 pathway.
Charles River Laboratories leveraged the MaxTwo HD-MEA system to characterise 糖心原创鈥檚 Huntington鈥檚 disease (HD) model. By comparing ioGlutamatergic Neurons HTT 50CAG/WT to their genetically-matched wild-type control, the team identified distinct functional phenotypes, including delayed network formation, decreased axonal branching, and reduced spontaneous activity. These results demonstrate the model's ability to recapitulate complex disease-related phenotypes, offering a valuable tool for screening.
ioGlutamatergic Neurons demonstrate high suitability for antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) efficacy screening following delivery by gymnosis. The lack of marked intra- or inter-plate variability confirms these cells as a robust, physiologically relevant model for validating therapeutic candidates.
ioGlutamatergic Neurons have been engineered to constitutively express green fluorescent protein (GFP), offering scientists an in vitro, fluorescent human neuronal model ideal for culturing with other cell types, enabling effortless tracking in multi-cellular systems.
Stable GFP expression enables easy, real-time tracking in complex, multi-cellular systems, facilitating the study of glial interactions or network function alongside inhibitory neurons. This makes the cells ideal for live-cell imaging to assess neurite outgrowth, morphology, and survival in response to compound treatment.
CRISPRko-Ready ioGlutamatergic Neurons reveal distinct phenotypic clustering in a pooled knockout screen targeting 100 neurodegenerative disease-relevant genes. As visualised in the UMAP, single-cell analysis shows that aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (aaRS) knockouts鈥攊ncluding AARS1 and GARS1鈥攇roup together, while non-targeting controls remain evenly distributed. Pathway analysis indicates that targeting these genes activates the unfolded protein response (UPR), validating the model's ability to recapitulate mechanisms found in neurodegenerative conditions like Charcot鈥揗arie鈥揟ooth neuropathy (CMT).
In this video, our scientist takes you through the step-by-step process of how to thaw, seed and culture ioGlutamatergic Neurons, which complements our expert scientist's top tips on understanding the importance of handling cells gently, preparation of coatings, media changes and cell density.
Dr Shushant Jain
Group Leader | In Vitro Biology | Charles River, 2021
Dr Mariangela Iovino
Senior Group Leader | Biology Discovery | Charles River
Dr Koby Baranes
Research Associate | University of Cambridge
Dr Jeremy Anton
Scientist | Charles River
Professor Deepak Srivastava
Professor | Molecular Neuroscience | King鈥檚 College London and Group Leader | MRC Centre for Developmental Disorders
Study network synchrony, functional connectivity, and drug responses using MEA in a more physiologically relevant neuronal network with balanced excitatory and inhibitory activity.
Explore ioGABAergic Neurons
Explore ioGABAergic Neuron Disease Models
CRISPR-Ready ioCells stably express Cas9 nuclease or dCas9 variants and come with optimised cell culturing and guide delivery protocols.
Start measuring readouts from gene perturbations and CRISPR screens within days
Explore CRISPR-Ready ioCells
Access our in vitro neuroscience toolkit to develop complex models for investigating cellular communication and disease mechanisms in the human context.
ioMicroglia
ioOligodendrocyte-like cells
ioAstrocytes
Study the impact of mutations related to neurodegenerative diseases in consistent, defined and scalable human CNS disease model cells with genetically matched controls.
- Alzheimer's disease
- Parkinson's disease
- Huntington's disease
- ALS and FTD
DOC-1289 4.0
糖心原创
2025
Dr Kaiser Karim | Scientist
糖心原创
Prachi Bhagwatwar鈥嬧嬧嬧 | 鈥婻esearch Assistant | 糖心原创
Professor Deepak Srivastava
Professor of Molecular Neuroscience and Group Leader, MRC Centre for Developmental Disorders
King鈥檚 College London
糖心原创
Lachize, et al
Courtesy of Charles River Laboratories
2020
Oosterveen, et al
糖心原创
2022
Raman, et al
糖心原创
2022
Smith, et al.
糖心原创
2024
Veteleanu et al.
糖心原创
2025
Bsibsi et al.
Courtesy of Charles River Laboratories
2024
Oosterveen et al.
糖心原创
2025
Bsibsi et al.
Courtesy of Charles River Laboratories
2024
Iovino et al.
Courtesy of Charles River Laboratories
2023
Newman et al.
糖心原创
2024
Bsibsi et al.
Courtesy of Charles River Laboratories
2024
Grabner et al.
糖心原创
2025
Smith et al.
糖心原创
2024
Monteith et al.
糖心原创
2024
Krainz et al.
糖心原创
2024
Veteleanu et al.
糖心原创
2025
Veteleanu et al.
糖心原创
2025
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糖心原创
2025
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糖心原创
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Davenport A, Frolov T & Kotter M
Drug Discovery World
2020
Pawlowski M et al
Stem Cell Reports
2017
Whitehouse, et al
JoVE Journal of Visualized Experiments
2023
Using ioGlutamatergic Neurons
Chakraborty et al
Nature Communications
2023
Featuring ioGlutamatergic Neurons
Qiaojin Lin et al
The EMBO Journal
2023
Featuring opti-ox powered hiPSC-derived glutamatergic neurons with constitutive expression of Cas9
Markossian S, Grossman A, Baskir H, et al.
Assay Guidance Manual
2025
Using ioGlutamatergic Neurons
Filippa VG, et al.
bioRxiv
2026
Using ioGlutamatergic Neurons and ioMotor Neurons
Kam Dhaliwal | SVP Strategic Alliances | 糖心原创
Dr Thomas Moreau | Head of Research | 糖心原创
Talk at ELRIG Drug Discovery Digital
Innovation showcase talk at ISSCR
Marius Wernig MD, PhD | Stanford
Mark Kotter, MD, PhD | 糖心原创
Dr Irantzu Perez Ruiz | Study Director | Scantox Neuro
Human Cell Forum 2025
Session 1 Track 1 | Modelling neurodegeneration in vitro with human iPSC-derived cells
Dr Martina Esposito Soccoio | Senior Research Associate | AviadoBio
Human Cell Forum 2025
Session 3 | Making complex human biology compatible with modern drug discovery workflows
Dr Marijn Vlaming | Head of Biology, et al.
Charles River & 糖心原创
Dr Marijn Vlaming | Head of Biology
Charles River
Dr Deepak Srivastava | King鈥檚 College London
Mark Kotter | CEO and founder | 糖心原创
Marius Wernig | Professor Departments of Pathology and Chemical and Systems Biology | Stanford University
Dr Ania Wilczynska | Head of Computational Genomics | Non-Clinical | 糖心原创
Emmanouil Metzakopian | Vice President, Research and Development | 糖心原创
Javier Conde-Vancells | Director Product Management | 糖心原创
Glutamatergic neurons are the primary excitatory neurons of the central nervous system (CNS), responsible for driving the synaptic signalling pathways that underlie cognition, learning, and memory. Dysfunction in these neuronal excitatory networks is a driver of neurodegenerative pathologies, such as Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, Huntington鈥檚 disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
ioGlutamatergic Neurons address the heterogeneity and inconsistency of conventional differentiation protocols by providing a highly defined population of human iPSC-derived glutamatergic neurons with >80% expression of glutamate transporter genes (VGLUT1/2). Powered by opti-ox technology, ioGlutamatergic Neurons show unprecedented lot-to-lot consistency, as validated by bulk RNA-sequencing analysis, enabling reproducible data generation across every vial and every experiment.
ioGlutamatergic Neurons are ready for experimentation within days of thawing and display spontaneous activity as early as day 7. When co-cultured with astrocytes, ioGlutamatergic Neurons rapidly evolve into complex networks, exhibiting clear synchronised bursting across active electrodes by day 31, making them an ideal model for assessing network dynamics on MEA platforms.
ioGlutamatergic Neurons engineered with disease-specific mutations (e.g., PSEN1, APP, or HTT) recapitulate complex disease phenotypes in vitro. For instance, genetically matched Alzheimer鈥檚 disease models display increased amyloid-beta secretion, while Huntington鈥檚 disease models exhibit delayed network formation and reduced axonal branching, providing robust in vitro models for drug discovery workflows.
Co-culturing ioGlutamatergic Neurons with inhibitory ioGABAergic Neurons provides a physiologically relevant system to study network hyperexcitability and excitatory-inhibitory (E/I) balance, allowing scientists to model neurological conditions such as epilepsy and schizophrenia.
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