Content area
Full Text
npg
Neural crest stem cells 288
Cell Research (2012) 22:288-304. 2012 IBCB, SIBS, CAS All rights reserved 1001-0602/12 $ 32.00
npg
REVIEW
www.nature.com/cr
Neural crest stem cells: discovery, properties and potential for therapy
Annita Achilleos1, Paul A Trainor1, 2
1Stowers Institute for Medical Research, 1000 East 50th Street Kansas City, MO 64110, USA; 2Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66160, USA
Neural crest (NC) cells are a migratory cell population synonymous with vertebrate evolution. They generate a wide variety of cell and tissue types during embryonic and adult development including cartilage and bone, connective tissue, pigment and endocrine cells as well as neurons and glia amongst many others. Such incredible lineage potential combined with a limited capacity for self-renewal, which persists even into adult life, demonstrates that NC cells bear the key hallmarks of stem and progenitor cells. In this review, we describe the identication, characterization and isolation of NC stem and progenitor cells from different tissues in both embryo and adult organisms. We discuss their specic properties and their potential application in cell-based tissue and disease-specic repair.
Keywords: neural crest cells; stem and progenitor cells; self renewal; multipotency; ES cells; iPS cells Cell Research (2012) 22:288-304. doi:10.1038/cr.2012.11; published online 10 January 2012
Introduction
The neural crest (NC) is a population of cells that was rst described by the Swiss embryologist Wilheim His in 1868 as a Zwischenstrang (the intermediate strand) due to their location between the dorsal ectoderm and the neural tube in vertebrate embryos. The tissue was later renamed NC by Arthur Milnes Marshall as a more precise description of its anatomical position [1]. NC cells (NCCs) are born during vertebrate embryogenesis within the dorsal margins of the closing neural folds. Initially, they are integrated within the neuroepithelium where they are morphologically indistinguishable from the other neural epithelial cells. Upon induction by signals that come from contact-mediated tissue interactions between the neural plate and the surface ectoderm, NCCs delami-nate through an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and start migrating extensively to several different locations in the embryo where they contribute to a remarkably diverse array of different tissue types ranging from the peripheral nervous system (PNS) to the craniofacial skeleton (Figure 1) [2].
NCC derivatives originate from four...