Adult human spinal cord harbors neural precursor cells that generate neurons and glial cells in vitro
Adult human and rodent brains contain neural stem and progenitor cells, and the presence of neural stem cells in the adult rodent spinal cord has also been described. Here, using electron microscopy, expression of neural precursor cell markers, and cell culture, we investigated whether neural precur...
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Published in | Journal of neuroscience research Vol. 86; no. 9; pp. 1916 - 1926 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Hoboken
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company
01.07.2008
Wiley |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Adult human and rodent brains contain neural stem and progenitor cells, and the presence of neural stem cells in the adult rodent spinal cord has also been described. Here, using electron microscopy, expression of neural precursor cell markers, and cell culture, we investigated whether neural precursor cells are also present in adult human spinal cord. In well‐preserved nonpathological post‐mortem human adult spinal cord, nestin, Sox2, GFAP, CD15, Nkx6.1, and PSA‐NCAM were found to be expressed heterogeneously by cells located around the central canal. Ultrastructural analysis revealed the existence of immature cells close to the ependymal cells, which display characteristics of type B and C cells found in the adult rodent brain subventricular region, which are considered to be stem and progenitor cells, respectively. Completely dissociated spinal cord cells reproducibly formed Sox2+ nestin+ neurospheres containing proliferative precursor cells. On differentiation, these generate glial cells and γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA)‐ergic neurons. These results provide the first evidence for the existence in the adult human spinal cord of neural precursors with the potential to differentiate into neurons and glia. They represent a major interest for endogenous regeneration of spinal cord after trauma and in degenerative diseases. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. |
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Bibliography: | ark:/67375/WNG-XZH8BS69-M ArticleID:JNR21646 Association pour la Recherche sur le Cancer Association Française contre les Myopathies (Evry, France) Association Verticale Institut pour la Recherche sur la Moelle Epinière European Union FP6 "Rescue" STREP Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale istex:5894489E2BBA6C85C8A4C7CB188D8931CCCCF985 Association Demain Debout Aquitaine (Agen, France) The last two authors contributed equally to this work. The third and fourth authors contributed equally to this work. The first two authors contributed equally to this work. ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0360-4012 1097-4547 |
DOI: | 10.1002/jnr.21646 |