Stem Cells Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Stem Cells, including details on research, transplants, therapy, benefits.

Neurodegeneration augments the ability of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells to fuse with Purkinje neurons in Niemann-Pick type C mice.

Bae JS, Furuya S, Shinoda Y, Endo S, Schuchman EH, Hirabayashi Y, Jin HK

College of Veterinary Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, South Korea.

After transplantation, adult bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) may undergo transdifferentiation and/or cell fusion in response to new environments. However, the mechanism(s) that govern these cell fate switches remain unknown. Here we demonstrate that the pathology associated with murine Niemann-Pick disease type C (NP-C) cerebellum augments the ability of BM-MSCs to fuse with Purkinje neurons. The results suggest that the degenerative microenvironment of Purkinje neurons in the NP-C cerebellum modulates the cell fate switch of BM-MSCs via cell fusion.

Published 3 August 2005 in Hum Gene Ther, 16(8): 1006-11.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Stem Cells Research Today. All Rights Reserved.