Induction of neural tissue markers by micronized human spinal cord implants.
The osteoinductive capacity of biological noncellular material has been widely recognized. Studies using bone morphogenetic proteins and acellular bone matrix demonstrate that host mesenchymal cells can be readily transformed into osteoprogenitor cells. The current study sought to determine whether another biological noncellular material, human spinal cord matrix, could induce transformation of host cells into a neural lineage. We demonstrate the formation of neural tissue and the expression of neural-specific lineage markers in host cells colonizing implanted spinal cord fragments and adjacent tissue along with the lack of expression of nonneural lineage markers. These studies demonstrate that the inductive capacity of biological noncellular material is not limited to the osteogenic lineage and suggest that acellular spinal cord matrix could be used to generate host-derived cells for use in neural repair and regeneration.
Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Science, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California.
Ellen M
EM
Carpenter
Carlos
C
Llamas
Billy E
BE
Buck
Theodore I
TI
Malinin
D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000502:physiology*; D055252:Cell-Derived Microparticles / Q000637:transplantation*; D006801:Humans; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D011923:Rats, Nude; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000637:transplantation*
D015415:Biomarkers
neural differentiation; neural regeneration; spinal cord; xenograft