title: Cloned myogenic cells can transdifferentiate in vivo into neuron-like cells.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The question of whether intact somatic cells committed to a specific differentiation fate, can be reprogrammed in vivo by exposing them to a different host microenvironment is a matter of controversy. Many reports on transdifferentiation could be explained by fusion with host cells or reflect intrinsic heterogeneity of the donor cell population.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We have tested the capacity of cloned populations of mouse and human muscle progenitor cells, committed to the myogenic pathway, to transdifferentiate to neurons, following their inoculation into the developing brain of newborn mice. Both cell types migrated into various brain regions, and a fraction of them gained a neuronal morphology and expressed neuronal or glial markers. Likewise, inoculated cloned human myogenic cells expressed a human specific neurofilament protein. Brain injected donor cells that expressed a YFP transgene controlled by a neuronal specific promoter, were isolated by FACS. The isolated cells had a wild-type diploid DNA content.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These and other results indicate a genuine transdifferentiation phenomenon induced by the host brain microenvironment and not by fusion with host cells. The results may potentially be relevant to the prospect of autologous cell therapy approach for CNS diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sarig
authors.forename: Ora
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Fuchs
authors.forename: Lilach
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tencer
authors.forename: Avi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Panski
authors.forename: Uri
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Nudel
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yaffe
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D017690:Cell Transplantation; D002999:Clone Cells; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D009132:Muscles / Q000737:chemistry*; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*