Department of Pathology, Division of Neuropathology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Ross Building, Room 558, 720 Rutland Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Regen Med. 2012 Nov;7(6):785-97. doi: 10.2217/rme.12.76.
To explore the hypothesis that grafts of exogenous stem cells in the spinal cord of athymic rats or rats with transgenic motor neuron disease can induce endogenous stem cells and initiate intrinsic repair mechanisms that can be exploited in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis therapeutics.
MATERIALS & METHODS: Human neural stem cells (NSCs) were transplanted into the lower lumbar spinal cord of healthy rats or rats with transgenic motor neuron disease to explore whether signals related to stem cells can initiate intrinsic repair mechanisms in normal and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis subjects. Patterns of migration and differentiation of NSCs in the gray and white matter, with emphasis on the central canal region and ependymal cell-driven neurogenesis, were analyzed.
Findings suggest that there is extensive cross-signaling between transplanted NSCs and a putative neurogenic niche in the ependyma of the lower lumbar cord. The formation of a neuronal cord from NSC-derived cells next to ependyma suggests that this structure may serve a mediating or auxiliary role for ependymal induction.
These findings raise the possibility that NSCs may stimulate endogenous neurogenesis and initiate intrinsic repair mechanisms in the lower spinal cord.
探讨如下假说，即在重症肌无力患者或转基因运动神经元疾病大鼠的脊髓中移植外源性干细胞可诱导内源性干细胞，并启动内在修复机制，从而应用于肌萎缩性侧索硬化症的治疗。
将人神经干细胞（NSCs）移植到健康大鼠或转基因运动神经元疾病大鼠的下腰椎脊髓中，以探讨与干细胞相关的信号是否可以启动正常和肌萎缩性侧索硬化症患者的内在修复机制。分析 NSCs 在灰质和白质中的迁移和分化模式，重点关注中央管区域和室管膜细胞驱动的神经发生。
研究结果表明，移植的 NSCs 与下腰椎脊髓室管膜中的假定神经发生龛之间存在广泛的交叉信号。NSC 衍生细胞在室管膜旁边形成神经元索表明，该结构可能对室管膜诱导起介导或辅助作用。
这些发现提出了一种可能性，即 NSCs 可能刺激内源性神经发生并启动下脊髓的内在修复机制。
