Stem cells cell lineage studies

Central nervous system stem cells maintain an undifferentiated state and the capacity to self-renew in response to epidermal growth factor and fibroblast growth factor 507 Cell lineage studies reveal close associations between distinct neural cell types 508... 

Resident CSCs were first isolated in murine hearts. Characterization of these cells was based on the expression of the stem cell-related surface antigens c-Kit and Sea-1. In the first study, freshly isolated c-Kit /Lin cells were shown to be clono-genic and to differentiate into myocytes, smooth muscle cells, and endothelial lineage cells [35]. Those cells generated functional myocardium when injected into ischemic areas of the heart. The second study characterized CSCs as Sca-l/c-Kit. When treated in culture with 5-azacytidine, those cells differentiated into a myogenic lineage. Subsequently, intravenous injection of the cells in an ischemia/reperfusion model resulted in infarct healing with cardiomyocyte transdifferentiation... 

Several sources have reported using stem cells including embryonic stem cells, adult liver progenitors, and transdifferentiated nonhepatic cells in cell-based thera-pies. Hepatocyte lineage in vitro has been reported in murine embryonic stem cells." It is apparent that hematopoietic stem cells can generate hepatocytes directly. This has been shown in rodent models and confirmed in humans by a study of recipients of bone marrow and liver transplants. ... 

The use of mature cell types such as chondrocytes and osteoblasts is associated with several drawbacks including their limited availability, donor site morbidity, dedifferentiation, and limited proliferative capacity. These problems have urged researchers to study the chondrogenic and osteogenic lineage differentiation of ESCs and adipose stem cells. Human embryoid body cells were combined with Matrigel and seeded onto thin PLGA/PLA scaffolds. The hESC proliferation... 

---