{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,23]],"date-time":"2026-10-23T21:00:24Z","timestamp":1792789224056,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"19","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791331200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791331200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"AriSLA\u2014Fondazione Italiana di Ricerca per la SLA Bando 2024","award":["ZANUSSO_ARISLA_DEFINEALS"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ZANUSSO_ARISLA_DEFINEALS"]}]},{"name":"Ministry of Universities and Research","award":["DN. 1553 11.10.2022"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["DN. 1553 11.10.2022"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/0341vw408","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"award":["DN. 1553 11.10.2022"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["DN. 1553 11.10.2022"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/0341vw408","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Cells"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The olfactory neuroepithelium (ON) collected with nasal swabs (NS) is a valuable source for studying brain processes in physiological and pathological conditions, due to its anatomical proximity to the brain and heterogeneous neural cell population. In this proof-of-concept study, we developed a protocol for co-culturing distinct cellular populations from ON, establishing a human olfactory neuroepithelium cell culture (hON) model from healthy individuals (HIs) without differentiation factors. We characterized the cellular composition of ON samples at harvesting, identifying sustentacular cells (Pan-CK+), neuronal cells (PGP9.5+), and ciliated respiratory cells (\u03b2IV-tubulin+) by immunofluorescence and flow cytometry. We assessed the expression and distribution of TDP-43, Tau, and \u03b1-synuclein, together with their phosphorylated isoforms, to establish a physiological reference profile. Furthermore, Seeding Amplification Assay (SAA) analysis, including disease-positive and healthy control cohorts, confirmed the absence of aggregated protein species in HIs. While p-Tau and p-\u03b1-syn localization was preserved between collection and culture, p-TDP-43 displayed neuron-specific nuclear redistribution upon culture, suggesting distinct regulatory dynamics. Longitudinal monitoring revealed that hON cultures maintain a stable neuronal population for up to 21 days, after which cells transition toward a fibroblast-like phenotype. This study establishes NS-derived hON as a feasible model for investigating neurodegenerative mechanisms, providing a baseline for disease comparisons.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/cells15191824","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,8]],"date-time":"2026-10-08T08:34:25Z","timestamp":1791448465000},"page":"1824","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Olfactory Swab-Derived Human Neuroepithelium Cell Culture as a Novel Model to Study Neurodegeneration-Related Proteins"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0001-8365-1612","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Francesco","family":"Silvestri","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Erika","family":"Bronzato","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7678-6359","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ilaria","family":"Scambi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0700-2792","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Valerio","family":"Arietti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery, Dentistry, Paediatrics and Gynaecology, Otolaryngology Section, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Luca","family":"Sacchetto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery, Dentistry, Paediatrics and Gynaecology, Otolaryngology Section, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Raffaella","family":"Mariotti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5199-6264","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gianluigi","family":"Zanusso","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6009-5502","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Matilde","family":"Bongianni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0760-1787","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ermanna","family":"Turano","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Avaro, V., Hummel, T., and Calegari, F. 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