Adult Bone Marrow Stem Cells Can Differentiate Into Brain Cells

A recent study has found that multipotent adult progenitor cells from adult bone marrow differentiate into all major types of brain cells after injection into mouse blastocysts.

Mice embryos treated in this fashion matured into chimeras expressing the presence of both the cells from the host mouse as well as cells that developed from the transplanted stem cells. The transplanted cells were found to have differentiated into nerve cells, glial cells and myelin-forming cells. The study was published in the April 25, 2003, issue of Cell Transplantation.

The researchers looked at the specific phenotypes of the cells in the brain and found stem cells produced nerve cells in regions of the brain that undergo degeneration with Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, Huntington's disease, Ataxia, and Alzheimer's disease. This finding increases the probability that stem cells could be used as therapy for these diseases.

"This tells us that these adult stem cells are capable of becoming nerve cells that communicate with other nerve cells within the brain and form proper neural circuits that permit the chimerical mice to function normally,” said contributing author Dr. Catherine Verfaillie, director of the Stem Cell Institute at the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis-St. Paul, USA).



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