Turning Blood into Brain: Cells Bearing Neuronal Antigens Generated in Vivo from Bone Marrow
Éva Mezey,1*
Karen J. Chandross,2
Gyöngyi Harta,1
Richard A. Maki,34
Scott R. McKercher3
Bone marrow stem cells give rise to a variety of hematopoietic
lineages and repopulate the blood throughout adult life. We show that,
in a strain of mice incapable of developing cells of the myeloid and
lymphoid lineages, transplanted adult bone marrow cells migrated into
the brain and differentiated into cells that expressed neuron-specific
antigens. These findings raise the possibility that bone
marrow-derived cells may provide an alternative source of neurons in
patients with neurodegenerative diseases or central nervous system
injury.
1 Basic Neuroscience Program,
2 Laboratory of Developmental Neurogenetics,
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National
Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
3 The
Burnham Institute, 10901 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
4 Neurocrine Biosciences, 10555 Science Center
Drive, San Diego, CA 92121, USA.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
mezey{at}codon.nih.gov
