Fractone Stem Cell Niche Components Provide Intuitive Clues in the Design of New Therapeutic Procedures/Biomatrices for Neural Repair

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 23; no. 9; p. 5148
• Main Author: Melrose, James
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 05.05.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Autism; Cell Differentiation; Cell growth; Cell proliferation; Dentate gyrus; Developmental plasticity; Domains; Extracellular matrix; Extracellular Matrix - metabolism; Fibroblast growth factor 2; Fractals; hyaluronan; Hyaluronic acid; Hyaluronic Acid - metabolism; Hydration; Kinases; Laminin; neural progenitor stem cells; Neural stem cells; neural tissue repair; Neurogenesis - physiology; Neurons - metabolism; Olfactory bulb; Perineuronal nets; Perlecan; Pluripotency; Progenitor cells; Protective structures; Proteoglycans; Regulation; Repair; Review; Signal transduction; Spinal cord injuries; Stem Cell Niche - physiology; Stem cells; Synaptic plasticity; Synaptogenesis; Traumatic brain injury; Ventricle; neural progenitor stem cells; stem cell niche; hyaluronan; perlecan; laminin; extracellular matrix; neural tissue repair
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms23095148

The aim of this study was to illustrate recent developments in neural repair utilizing hyaluronan as a carrier of olfactory bulb stem cells and in new bioscaffolds to promote neural repair. Hyaluronan interacts with brain hyalectan proteoglycans in protective structures around neurons in perineuronal nets, which also have roles in the synaptic plasticity and development of neuronal cognitive properties. Specialist stem cell niches termed fractones located in the sub-ventricular and sub-granular regions of the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus migrate to the olfactory bulb, which acts as a reserve of neuroprogenitor cells in the adult brain. The extracellular matrix associated with the fractone stem cell niche contains hyaluronan, perlecan and laminin α5, which regulate the quiescent recycling of stem cells and also provide a means of escaping to undergo the proliferation and differentiation to a pluripotent migratory progenitor cell type that can participate in repair processes in neural tissues. Significant improvement in the repair of spinal cord injury and brain trauma has been reported using this approach. FGF-2 sequestered by perlecan in the neuroprogenitor niche environment aids in these processes. Therapeutic procedures have been developed using olfactory ensheathing stem cells and hyaluronan as a carrier to promote neural repair processes. Now that recombinant perlecan domain I and domain V are available, strategies may also be expected in the near future using these to further promote neural repair strategies.