title: Isolation, expansion and transplantation of postnatal murine progenitor cells of the enteric nervous system.
abstract: Neural stem or progenitor cells have been proposed to restore gastrointestinal function in patients suffering from congenital or acquired defects of the enteric nervous system. Various, mainly embryonic cell sources have been identified for this purpose. However, immunological and ethical issues make a postnatal cell based therapy desirable. We therefore evaluated and quantified the potential of progenitor cells of the postnatal murine enteric nervous system to give rise to neurons and glial cells in vitro. Electrophysiological analysis and BrdU uptake studies provided direct evidence that generated neurons derive from expanded cells in vitro. Transplantation of isolated and expanded postnatal progenitor cells into the distal colon of adult mice demonstrated cell survival for 12 weeks (end of study). Implanted cells migrated within the gut wall and differentiated into neurons and glial cells, both of which were shown to derive from proliferated cells by BrdU uptake. This study indicates that progenitor cells isolated from the postnatal enteric nervous system might have the potential to serve as a source for a cell based therapy for neurogastrointestinal motility disorders. However, further studies are necessary to provide evidence that the generated cells are capable to positively influence the motility of the diseased gastrointestinal tract.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery and Pediatric Urology, University Children's Hospital Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Heike Monika
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Dettmann
authors.affiliation: Institute of Anatomy, Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Deptartment of Electrophysiology, Natural and Medical Sciences Institute at the University Tuebingen, Reutlingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Nadine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wronna
authors.affiliation: Deptartment of Electrophysiology, Natural and Medical Sciences Institute at the University Tuebingen, Reutlingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Udo
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Kraushaar
authors.affiliation: Deptartment of Electrophysiology, Natural and Medical Sciences Institute at the University Tuebingen, Reutlingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Elke
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Guenther
authors.affiliation: Institute of Anatomy, Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mohr
authors.affiliation: Institute of Anatomy, Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter Helmut
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Neckel
authors.affiliation: Institute of Anatomy, Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mack
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery and Pediatric Urology, University Children's Hospital Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Joerg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fuchs
authors.affiliation: Institute of Anatomy, Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Lothar
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Just
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery and Pediatric Urology, University Children's Hospital Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Obermayr
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods; D003106:Colon / Q000378:metabolism; D017615:Enteric Nervous System / Q000166:cytology*; D005769:Gastrointestinal Motility / Q000502:physiology; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051379:Mice; D058953:Neural Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology* / Q000637:transplantation*; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology*
chemical_list: D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine