title: Phenotypic characteristics of hybrid cells produced by cell fusion of porcine adrenal chromaffin cells with human mesenchymal stem cells: a preliminary study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Transplantation of adrenal chromaffin cells (CCs) that release endogenous opioid peptides and catecholamines produces significant antinociceptive effects in patients with terminal cancer pain. In clinical practice, however, obtaining a sufficient number of chromaffin cells may not be possible because of the limited availability of human adrenal tissue. Recent works have shown that fusion of bone marrow-derived cells with differentiated cells can occur spontaneously in vivo and acquire the phenotype of the recipient cells. In this study, we investigated the possibility of producing chromaffin-like cells by fusing human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MeSCs) with post-mitotic porcine CCs in vitro with the application of polyethylene glycol (PEG).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Before cell-to-cell fusion was initiated, MeSCs and CCs were labeled by fluorescence dyes DiO (green) and Dil (red), respectively. The hybrid cells generated by PEG-mediated fusion expressed a DiO and Dil double-staining with estimated fusion efficiency at approximately 40% of the total cell population. Further immunocytochemical examination for tyrosine hydroxylase and methionine enkephalin (markers for CCs) demonstrated positive immuno-reactivity in these hybrid cells 2 weeks post-fusion. More interestingly, some of the hybrid cells showed bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU)-positive immunostaining in the nuclei.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results show that these hybrid cells fused by CCs and MeSCs express some characteristics of the CC phenotype. A subpopulation of these hybrid cells are dividing cells with positive BrdU immunostaining, suggesting that a novel cellular production could be developed by a "reprogramming" mechanism through the application of targeted cell fusion strategies.
authors.affiliation: The Psychiatric Institute, Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1601 West Taylor Street, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
authors.forename: Guangbin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: George D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Pappas
authors.forename: Tingyu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Qu
mesh_terms: D000313:Adrenal Medulla / Q000166:cytology*; D000818:Animals; D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine / Q000378:metabolism; D002452:Cell Count; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D002459:Cell Fusion / Q000379:methods; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D019439:Chromaffin Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D006822:Hybrid Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D010641:Phenotype; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000494:pharmacology; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D013552:Swine; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D013501:Surface-Active Agents; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase; D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine