The influence of cerebrospinal fluid on epidermal neural crest stem cells may pave the path for cell-based therapy

Abstract

IntroductionEpidermal neural crest stem cells (EPI-NCSCs) in the bulge of hair follicles are a promising source for cell-replacement therapies in neurodegenerative diseases. A prominent factor in cell-based therapy is the practicalities of different routes of administration. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), owing to its adaptive library of secreted growth factors, can provide a trophic environment for transplanted cells. Thus, the effect of CSF on the behavior of EPI-NCSC was studied here.MethodsIn this study, the highly pure population of EPI-NCSCs was obtained from the bulge of mouse hair follicle. Migrated cells were characterized with real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunocytochemistry. Subsequently isolated stem cells were cultured in CSF, which was collected from the cisterna magna of the adult rat. The expression of pertinent markers was assessed at the gene and protein levels with RT-PCR and immunocytochemistry, respectively. Colorimetric immunoassay was used to quantify the rate of proliferation of EPI-NCSCs after cultivation in CSF.ResultsIsolated EPI-NCSCs could survive in the CSF, and they maintained the expression of nestin, β–tubulin ІІІ (early neuronal marker), and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP, glia marker) in this environment. In addition, CSF decreased the proliferation rate of EPI-NCSCs significantly in comparison to primary and expansion culture medium.ConclusionsOur findings demonstrate that CSF as a cocktail of growth factors helps EPI-NCSCs to acquire some desirable traits, and because of its circulatory system that is in close contact with different parts of the central nervous system (CNS), can be a practical route of administration for delivery of injected stem cells.

Substrate stiffness affects the morphology and gene expression of epidermal neural crest stem cells in a short term culture

“…The EPI‐NCSCs were obtained from the bulge of hair follicles in the area of adult rat whisker pads, as described thoroughly earlier (Pandamooz et al, ; Sieber‐Blum & Grim, ). Here, the dissected hair bulges were explanted on the collagen‐coated four‐well cell culture plate and fed with alpha‐modified minimum essential medium (Cat.…”

“…Also, these stem cells can circumvent several setbacks associated with embryonic stem cells, such as immunologic incompatibility. Also, EPI‐NCSCs are ontologically related to nervous system stem cells and express both neuronal and glial markers (Pandamooz, Naji, Alinezhad, Zarghami, & Pourghasem, ). As the nervous system is a familiar context for EPI‐NCSCs, numerous studies are using these stem cells in animal models of spinal cord injury (Hu et al, ; Y. Li et al, ; Lu, Li, Liu, & Dong, ; Pandamooz et al, ).…”

Cerebrospinal fluid-stem cell interactions may pave the path for cell-based therapy in neurological diseases

“…These factors in CSF can promote the proliferation and differentiation of MSCs into nerve cells through the corresponding receptors on the cell surface, suggesting that the differentiation of MSCs is tissue-specific and that the tissue microenvironment can induce its directional differentiation [ 14 ]. This indicates that CSF can not only nourish the nerve cells, but can also act as an effective and suitable inducer thus providing a new source of NSCs [ 15 ]. On the other hand, some studies have suggested that the inhibitory components in CSF might suppress the differentiation of related primary stem cells into mature nerve cells [ 16 ].…”

“…The above research suggested that CSF under morbid conditions might be an important factor to initiate patient’s self-endogenous nerve repair [ 53 , 54 ] but that during the repair there was a difference in the differentiation direction of NSCs [ 55 ]. In most cases NSCs mainly differentiate into glial cells [ 15 ] and less frequently predominantly into neuron-like cells [ 56 ]. Thus a current research hotspot in treating neurological diseases with induced endogenous stem cells is how to obtain the desired cells for clinical treatment, currently drug-containing CSF, and especially traditional Chinese medicine CSF pharmacology [ 57 ].…”

Prenatal transplantation of epidermal neural crest stem cells in malformation of cortical development mouse model

“…Epidermal neural crest stem cells (EPI‐NCSCs) of hair follicle bulge are a highly pure source of cells with much similarity in their features to neural stem cells, and display a novel type of multipotent nestin‐positive cells with characteristics of both embryonic and adult stem cells (Pandamooz, Naji, Alinezhad, Zarghami, & Pourghasem, ). These cells are more available and efficient for autologous transplantation without tumorigenicity in cases of neurological diseases, as compared to neural stem cells (Sieber‐Blum, ).…”