title: Human umbilical cord blood progenitors: the potential of these hematopoietic cells to become neural.
abstract: The mononuclear fraction from human umbilical cord blood (HUCB) contains a significant number of stem/progenitor cells that in theory could be come any cell in the body, including neurons. Taking into consideration that transdifferentiation would be a very rare event and also knowing that overlapping genetic programs for hematopoiesis and neuropoiesis exist, we undertook a characterization of the HUCB mononuclear fraction, including analysis of cellular subpopulations and their morphology, cell viability, proliferation, and expression of neural and hematopoietic antigens. Two cell populations were apparent-adherent and floating fractions. The adherent fraction was mainly lymphocytes (~53%) expressing hematopoietic antigens. Upon replate, the floating population had many cells that expressed stem cell antigens. More of the cells in this subfraction expressed neural proteins. Neurotrophin receptors trkB and trkC were present in both cell fractions, although expression was higher in the floating fraction. Our initial characterization suggests that a subpopulation of cells exists within the HUCB mononuclear fraction that seems to have the potential to become neural cells, which could then be used in the development of cell-based therapies for brain injuries and diseases.
authors.affiliation: Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair, Department of Neurosurgery, University of South Florida, College of Medicine, Tampa, Florida 33612, USA. nchen1@hsc.usf.edu
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jennifer E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Hudson
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Walczak
authors.forename: Iwona
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Misiuta
authors.forename: Svitlana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Garbuzova-Davis
authors.forename: Lixian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sanchez-Ramos
authors.forename: Paul R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Sanberg
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zigova
authors.forename: Alison E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Willing
mesh_terms: D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000378:metabolism; D015816:Cell Adhesion Molecules, Neuronal / Q000378:metabolism; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D002470:Cell Survival; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D033041:Embryo Research; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000166:cytology*; D005326:Fetal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000166:cytology; D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology*; D019707:Receptors, Chemokine / Q000378:metabolism; D020410:Activated-Leukocyte Cell Adhesion Molecule
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D015816:Cell Adhesion Molecules, Neuronal; D005326:Fetal Proteins; D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules; D019707:Receptors, Chemokine; C105613:ALCAM protein, human; D020410:Activated-Leukocyte Cell Adhesion Molecule