ALS Model Glia Can Mediate Toxicity to Motor Neurons Derived from Human Embryonic Stem Cells

In this issue of Cell Stem Cell, Di Giorgio et al. (2008) and Marchetto et al. (2008) culture motor neurons derived from human embryonic stem cells with astrocytes expressing mutant SOD1. In these human ALS models, motor neurons are selectively destroyed by mutant astrocyte-secreted factors, and potential neuroprotective pathways are revealed.