New Findings Reopen Debate About Adult Stem Cell Plasticity

July 21, 2004

New Findings Reopen Debate About Adult Stem Cell Plasticity

July 21, 2004

La Jolla, CA – Adult stem cells in the brain can change their destiny and become blood vessel cells instead of nerve cells, a Salk Institute study has found.

The study, published in the July 15 issue of Nature, revived the possibility that adult stem cells retain the ability to change their fate and become other cell types. The concept of such stem-cell ‘plasticity’ has been challenged recently by studies showing that stem cells merely fuse with surrounding cells to take on new characteristics.

弗雷德·H·盖奇, the Vi and John Adler Chair for Research on Age-Related Neurodegenerative Diseases, and his colleagues incubated mouse neural stem cells with human endothelial cells that form the lining of blood vessels. Within five days, six percent of the stem cells were showing the biochemical and structural characteristics of endothelial cells. The new cells had only one nucleus and contained only mouse chromosomes, indicating that they had, indeed, changed character and not simply fused with the surrounding endothelial cells.

“This indicates that neural stem cells have a broader developmental potential, or plasticity, than was previously believed,” said Gage.

The Salk team confirmed their results in an experimental set-up closer to real life, by transplanting adult neural stem cells into the brains of embryonic mice. Within two days, approximately two percent of the stem cells had started converting to endothelial cells.

The Salk findings also have dramatic implications for angiogenesis, the life-giving repair process by which endothelial cells migrate from the blood vessel wall to forge new networks of blood vessels into oxygen-deprived tissues. Although the prospect is far off, understanding how to harness angiogenesis could prove valuable for producing successful transplanted cells and possibly organs.

“Our work raises the possibility that angiogenesis does not exclusively account for the formation of new endothelial cells in adults, but that stem cells in the brain function along with angiogenesis to create new endothelial cells,” said Andrew Wurmser, a research associate working with Gage. “Equally exciting is the prospect that this model for endothelial cell formation may ultimately be shown to be used by stem cells in other tissues.”

索尔克生物研究所（Salk Institute for Biological Studies）位于加利福尼亚州拉霍亚，是一个独立的非营利组织，致力于生命科学的基础发现、改善人类健康和条件，以及培养未来几代研究人员。乔纳斯·索尔克医学博士于1960年创立了该研究所，获得了圣地亚哥市政府赠送的土地以及“March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation”（足迹慈善母婴健康基金会）的财政支持。.