Tissues from Post-Mortem Donors as Alternative Sources of Stem Cells for Regenerative Medicine
Stem cells provide for all of the tissues in our body during embryogenesis. In adult organisms, they can be found as rare populations of tissue-specific stem cells in quiescent states, although they can still regenerate damaged tissues. Astonishingly, the
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Tissues from Post-Mortem Donors as Alternative Sources of Stem Cells for Regenerative Medicine Gregor Haring and Janja Zupan Abstract
Keywords
Stem cells provide for all of the tissues in our body during embryogenesis. In adult organisms, they can be found as rare populations of tissue-specific stem cells in quiescent states, although they can still regenerate damaged tissues. Astonishingly, these cells are retained in tissues even post-mortem. There have been several reports that have provided evidence that cells with stem-like capabilities can be isolated, expanded, and differentiated in vitro from various tissues several hours, or even several days, post-mortem. Moreover, some post-mortem-tissue-derived stem cells can successfully engraft and regenerate injured host tissues. Here, we review in-vitro and in-vivo studies that provide evidence of isolation and characterization of stem cells from different tissues post-mortem, with a focus on the musculoskeletal and neural systems. Finally, we discuss their potential for use in regenerative medicine, and what needs to be done in further research toward their better exploitation.
Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells · Neural stem/progenitor cells · Post-mortem donors · Regenerative medicine · Tissue-specific stem cells
G. Haring Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia J. Zupan (*) Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Clinical Biochemistry, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia e-mail: [email protected]
Abbreviations ASCs GFAP ISCT MAP2 MSCs NA NSCs RPCs
1
Adipose stem cells Glial fibrillary acidic protein International Society for Cellular Therapy Microtubule-associated protein 2 Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells Not assigned Neural stem/progenitor cells Retinal progenitor cells
Introduction
Stem cells are unspecialized cells of the human body (Ota 2008). These cells have the remarkable capacity to generate tissues during embryogenesis (i.e., embryonic stem cells) and to regenerate damaged tissues later in adult life (i.e., adult/ somatic stem cells). This is because they can differentiate into the different cells of an organism, and have the unique ability for self-renewal (Gonzalez and Bernad 2012). Pluripotent stem
G. Haring and J. Zupan
cells are embryonic stem cells that can eventually differentiate into every cell type in an organism (Ota 2008). Induced pluripotent stem cells are artificially generated from somatic cells, and they function in a similar way to pluripotent stem cells (Takahashi and Yamanaka 2006; Takahashi et al. 2007). Some multipotent cells can differentiate into unrelated cell types, which has suggested the name of ‘pluripotent’ cells. In general, multipotent stem cells have a narrower spectrum of differentiation, as they specialize in discrete cells of specific cell lineages. Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs), for example, are multipotent stem cells that can differentiate into several types of cells of the connective tissues, such as bone, fat, cartilage, muscle, and str
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