Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Neurons

Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Neurons

A press release today reports that an article in the on-line publication Stem Cells and Development says that researchers have found that mesenchymal stem cells (adult stem cells derived from bone marrow) are predisposed to become neural cells. The Israeli researchers who did the study found that the mesenchymal stem cells which they cultured “express an extensive assortment of neural genes, genes linked to the neuro-dopaminergic system, and transcription factors that control genes having neural significance.” This suggests that in the right conditions they could differentiate easily into neurons and could be used for treatment of neurodegenerative disorders.

Interestingly, the press release also quoted part of the journal’s editorial, in which the editor in chief wrote, “contrary to our current thinking, stem cells are in no sense primitive cells. In fact, stem cells may well be the most advanced cells the organism produces.” This is a really intriguing thought.

Cells are of course incredibly complex and intricate structures. The idea the stem cells are primitive cells comes from the fact that they are not differentiated. But is something full of potential less complex than something which has reached its potential? Not necessarily. The finding of the bivalent chromatin which shows that some of the genes in an embryonic stem cell are essentially in a period of waiting to be turned on rather than completely turned off further supports the idea of the complexity of the stem cells. I imagine that as more research is done on differentiation, more of this kind of complex structure will be found. Cool.