A team led by researchers at the University of Toronto has discovered that a group of cells located in the skin and other areas of the body, called neural crest stem cells, are the source of reprogrammed neurons found by other researchers.
University of TorontoNov 3 2024
"We believed that most cases of cell reprogramming could be attributed to a rare, multi-potential stem cell that is found throughout the body and lays dormant within populations of mature cells," said Justin Belair-Hickey, first author on the study and graduate student of U of T's Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research.
Neural crest cells, which can be found below the hair follicle in the skin, are genetically predisposed to develop into neurons. This is not unexpected, as many cell types in the skin originate from the same location in the embryo as neurons: the ectodermal germ layer. The ectoderm is the outermost of the three layers of cells that form during embryonic development.
"I think claims about direct reprogramming are either overstated or based on inaccurate interpretations of the data," said Belair-Hickey. "We set out to demonstrate that the identity of a cell is much more defined and stable than the field of cellular reprogramming has proposed. At first glance, it appears that we've found skin cells that can be reprogrammed into neurons, but what we've actually found are stem cells in the skin that are derived from the brain.
Medicine Neurons Research Skin Stem Cells Transcription Transcription Factors
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