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First published online December 9, 2005

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CNS stem cells: fate rewound

Stem cells from the central nervous system (CNS) can differentiate into neurons and glia in vitro, which makes them a potential source of material for treatment of nervous system damage. Ronald McKay and co-workers now report, however, that late embryonic and adult CNS stem cells can also generate neural-crest-like cells and choroid plexus mesenchyme, even though CNS fate specification occurs early in development (see p. 5849). The authors show that CNS stem cells from the cortex of 14.5- and 18.5-day-old rat embryos and from adult brains undergo an epithelial-mesenchymal transition to a neural-crest-like state and then differentiate into smooth-muscle and non-CNS glial cells when exposed to both fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) and bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2). Surprisingly, FGF2 is required for the BMP-mediated dorsal respecification of CNS stem cells independently of its mitogenic effects. The authors conclude that FGF2, a commonly used mitogen in vitro, acts as a permissive signal that allows CNS stem cells to respond to other instructive cues. This may explain why cultured stem cells sometimes generate more cell types than usually seen in vivo.

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Related articles in JCS:

BMP2 and FGF2 cooperate to induce neural-crest-like fates from fetal and adult CNS stem cells

Martin H. M. Sailer, Thomas G. Hazel, David M. Panchision, Daniel J. Hoeppner, Martin E. Schwab, and Ronald D. G. McKay
JCS 2005 118: 5849-5860. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JCS Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?