Pluripotent and multipotent stem cells in adult tissues

• Published in: Advances in medical sciences Vol. 57; no. 1; pp. 1 - 17
• Main Authors: Ratajczak, MZ, Zuba-Surma, E, Kucia, M, Poniewierska, A, Suszynska, M, Ratajczak, J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier Urban & Partner Sp. z o.o 01.06.2012; Versita; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Adult; Fetal Blood - cytology; Humans; Multipotent Stem Cells - cytology; Multipotent Stem Cells - metabolism; Pluripotent Stem Cells - cytology; Pluripotent Stem Cells - metabolism; stem cells; umbilical cord blood; VSELs; stem cells; VSELs; umbilical cord blood
• ISSN: 1896-1126; 1898-4002
• DOI: 10.2478/v10039-012-0020-z

One of the most intriguing questions in stem cell biology is whether pluripotent stem cells exist in adult tissues. Several groups of investigators employing i) various isolation protocols, ii) detection of surface markers, and iii) experimental in vitro and in vivo models, have reported the presence of cells that possess a pluripotent character in adult tissues. Such cells were assigned various operational abbreviations and names in the literature that added confusion to the field and raised the basic question of whether these are truly distinct or overlapping populations of the same primitive stem cells. Unfortunately, these cells were never characterized side-by-side to address this important issue. Nevertheless, taking into consideration their common features described in the literature, it is very likely that various investigators have described overlapping populations of developmentally early stem cells that are closely related. These different populations of stem cells will be reviewed in this paper.