Professor Ricardo Pardal and his team. Credit: University of Seville
Mother cells from the
adult carotid body can transform into blood vessels as well as neurons. This
discovery could have important repercussions on the treatment of such diseases
as pediatric tumors and Parkinson's.
Researchers from the
University of Seville and the Seville Institute of Biomedicine (IBiS) have just
published a scientific article in the journal Cell Reports, in which
they show that mother cells from the adult carotid body can transform
into blood vessels, as well as into neurons. The work was led by the
post-doctoral researcher Valentina Annese.
"We believe that
the ability to produce blood vessels from neural stems cells could directly
affect the growth of certain types of tumours on the infant population,"
said the project's main researcher, Ricardo Pardal.
The carotid body is a
small structure of nerve tissue situated at the fork of the carotid artery. Its
function is to act as a chemoreceptor in the blood. It monitors oxygen pressure
in the blood and plays a role in the regulation of breathing.
The plasticity of adult
mother cells, or the somatic mother cells, to cross boundaries and to differ in
unrelated cell types has been a subject of debate over the last decade. Neural
crest stem cells
(NCSCs) show notable plasticity during their development, but it is not known
if adult NCSCs maintain this plasticity.
"We find that the adult stem cells
from the carotid body taken from the neural crest (CBSCs) are
capable of experiencing endothelial differentiation, as well as their already
described role in neurogenesis, contributing to both neurogenic and angiogenic
processes that take place during acclimation to hypoxia. In addition, the
conversion of CBSCs into blood vessels
is dependent on the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) and is sensitive to vascular
cytokines released in hypoxia, such as erythropoietin. Our data highlights a
notable physiological plasticity in an adult population of stem cells
specifically from tissue, and they could have an impact on the use of those
cells for cellular therapy," Pardal said.
More information: Valentina Annese et
al, Physiological Plasticity of Neural-Crest-Derived Stem Cells in the Adult
Mammalian Carotid Body, Cell Reports (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2017.03.065
Journal reference: Cell Reports
Provided by: University of Seville
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-05-team-neural-stem-cells-blood.html
No comments:
Post a Comment