In conclusion, our study first discovered that the specific activation of midbrain astrocytes increased the synthesis and release of bFGF, which directed the differentiation of the transplanted hESCs to DA neurons.Using the optogenetic approach to regulate astrocytes in a tissue-specific manner would also be helpful to dissect the elaborate interactions between astrocytes and neurons in PD, which will contribute to the further understanding the biological role of the astrocytes in neural degenerative disease. The gene discussed is FGF2; the disease is Parkinson disease.