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Angelo L. Vescovi
answers a few questions about this month's
new hot paper in the field of Neuroscience and Behavior
From
•>>September 2002
Field:
Neuroscience & Behavior
Article Title:
"Skeletal myogenic potential of human and mouse neural stem
cells"
Authors: Galli, R;Borello, U;Gritti, A;Minasi, AG;Bjornson,
C;Coletta, M;Mora, M;De Angelis, MGC;Fiocco, R;Cossu, G;Vescovi, AL
Journal: NAT NEUROSCI
Volume: 3
Page: 986-991
Year: OCT 2000
* Natl Neurol Inst C Besta, Via Celoria 11, I-20133 Milan,
Italy.
* Natl Neurol Inst C Besta, I-20133 Milan, Italy.
* HS Raffaele, Stem Cell Res Inst, I-20133 Milan, Italy.
* Univ Rome La Sapienza, Dept Histol & Med Embryol,
Fdn Pasteur Cenci Bolognetti, I-00161 Rome, Italy.
* Univ Washington, Dept Biochem, Seattle, WA 98195 USA.
* Univ Pavia, Dept Expt Med, I-27100 Pavia, Italy.
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Why do you think your paper is highly
cited?
The
field of stem cell research is one of the most exciting areas of
research nowadays, particularly as concerns its application in cell
therapeutics and the consequential clinical and health-related
implications.
Recently, stem cells have been identified also in the adult
central nervous system where they constitute a continuous source of
new neurons to be exploited for cell-based therapy of
neurodegenerative diseases. In 1999 our group had been the first to
report on the unexpected plasticity of CNS stem cells which were
shown to be able to convert into blood cells. In this context, this
article was the first to confirm the highly debated finding that
neural cells could give rise to non-neural tissues of the mesodermal
lineage in the context of adult tissues by showing that they can
differentiate into skeletal muscle. Notably, this phenomenon was
demonstrated not only by transplanting adult neural stem cells into
lesioned animals but also by means of an in vitro system
based on cocultures of neural stem cells with muscle cells.
Does
it describe a new discovery or new methodology that's useful to
others?
As mentioned above, these results not only confirm the
pioneering demonstration of extra-neural potential of adult neural
stem cells but also provide researchers with a very handy in
vitro tool by which mechanisms underlying the phenomenon of
transdifferentiation can be analyzed in a quantitative fashion.
Furthermore, in this work we showed that it is only the
undifferentiated brain precursors that undergo
transdifferentiation whereas their mature progeny does not.
Finally, the phenomenon does not depend on exposing cells to
growth factors in vitro.
What
were some of the circumstances that led you to do this research?
The discovery made in 1999 that adult neural stem cells can
convert into blood cells challenged a long-standing dogma in
developmental biology—that cells derived from a given germ layer
(neural cells are from the ectoderm) may give rise to non-ectodermal
derivatives (blood is mesodermal in origin). This work was
designed to show that neuro-mesodermal conversion does not occur
serendipitously but rather, that it is an intrinsic feature of
adult neural stem cells.
Could
you summarize the significance of your paper in layman's terms?
Stem cells are the fundamental building blocks by which tissues
and organs are built during development. In some tissues such as
blood, skin and gut, these building blocks remain active
throughout adulthood and contribute to the maintenance and
regeneration of tissues by producing the mature cell types that
provide the tissue itself with its appropriate functional
characteristics. For example, stem cells of the blood make red
blood cells, lymphocytes, whereas stem cells of the skin make
mature keratinocytes. It has long been held that adult stem cells
can generate exclusively mature cells that are typical of the
tissue in which they reside.
Stem cells have been identified also in the mature brain, from
which they can be isolated and grown in vitro for long
periods. Upon modifications of the growth conditions, these stem
cells can produce neurons and glia, the two main lineages of the
CNS. What we reported in this article is the ability of adult stem
cells, isolated from the brain, to produce not only brain cell
types but also cells of a different origin and location such as
muscle cells.
This conversion has been achieved either by injecting neural
stem cells into the damaged muscle of mice or by mixing stem cells
from the brain with stem cells from the muscle. In both cases,
muscle cells instructed part of the brain stem cells to change
their fate and transform into muscle cells. The rest of the
nervous cells differentiated along their expected developmental
"road" i.e. generated neurons and glia.
Angelo L. Vescovi, Director
Rosella Galli, Senior Staff Scientist
Stem Cell Research institute
DIBIT HSR
Via Olgettina 58 Milan I-20132, Italy
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ESI Special Topics,
September 2002
Citing URL - http://www.esi-topics.com/nhp/comments/september-02-AngeloVescovi.html
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