Table 2 Overview of the advantaged and disadvantages of the different in vitro models
From: Human in vitro models for understanding mechanisms of autism spectrum disorder
Reprogramed cells | |||||
| Â | Epigenetic markers | Can be used to study the effect of genetic background | Genetic stability | Can be used with Crispr | Can be cultured into 3D organoids |
Primary neural precursor cells (pNPCs) | Unknown | Yes (if genotyped) | High [40] | Yes | No |
Induced neurons (iN) | Dependent on donor’s age (does not reset) | Yes | High | Yes | No |
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) | Mostly embryonic (resets during reprograming) | Yes | Low | Yes | Yes |
Embryonic stem cells (ES) | Embryonic | Yes (if genotyped) | High | Yes | Yes |
Culture type | |||||
| Â | Cellular heterogeneity | Reproducibility | Can combine different cultures/regions | Can be used to study interregional connectivity | Level of in vivo brain development modeling |
2D cultures | Region-specific cell types/can be enriched for a single cell type | Moderate–high | Yes | No | Low–moderate |
3D cultures—more directed | Region-specific cell types | Moderate–high | Yes | Yes (when combining different protocols) | Moderate–high (for a specific region) |
3D cultures—less directed | Non-region-specific cell types | Very low | Unknown | Yes, but likely hindered by variability | Unclear |