Dopaminergic-like neurons derived from oral mucosa stem cells by developmental cues improve symptoms in the hemi-parkinsonian rat model.

ABSTRACT: Achieving safe and readily accessible sources for cell replacement therapy in Parkinson's disease (PD) is still a challenging unresolved issue. Recently, a primitive neural crest stem cell population (hOMSC) was isolated from the adult human oral mucosa and characterized in vitro and in vivo. In this study we assessed hOMSC ability to differentiate into dopamine-secreting cells with a neuronal-dopaminergic phenotype in vitro in response to dopaminergic developmental cues and tested their therapeutic potential in the hemi-Parkinsonian rat model. We found that hOMSC express constitutively a repertoire of neuronal and dopaminergic markers and pivotal transcription factors. Soluble developmental factors induced a reproducible neuronal-like morphology in the majority of hOMSC, downregulated ste

SUBMITTER: Ganz J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4063966 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature