Over the last few years, an impressive number of papers have addressed the stem cell issue. However, as often occurs when a scientific subject undergoes a period of fast growth, some confusion is generated. To help reduce the existing uncertainty, this paper focuses on the concept of adult stem cells in relation to the classification of cell populations on the basis their proliferative behavior. Particular attention is dedicated to adult neural stem cells, an issue that has recently seen the most amazing advances. Finally, the concept of adult stem cells is differentiated from that of developmental stem cells in relation to the employment of stem cells for transplantation therapies. Anat Rec (New Anat) 265:132–141, 2001. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc. “Stem cells branch out!” proclaimed the introduction to a series of review articles that recently appeared in Science (Hines et al., 2000) addressing several issues related to stem cell research and ethics. This is only one out of a number of reviews, commentaries, and editorials published on stem cells during the last two years. On the other hand, a continuously increasing number of research articles reporting new experimental data on stem cells is confirming the trend that began in 1999 when this issue was considered as the breakthrough of the year by Science's editor (Bloom, 1999). In addition, due to the prospects for the translation of stem cell biology advancements to treatment of many severe diseases affecting various organs, such as Parkinson disease and Duchenne muscular distrophy (Björklund and Lindvall, 2000; Gussoni et al., 1999; Moore, 1999; Weissman, 2000a), stem cells are very much in the popular news now and great hopes are arising from the public about their therapeutic potential. In the context of this kaleidoscope of news, comments, hypotheses, and speculations by scientists owning a variety of cultural backgrounds, some confusion regarding the stem cell issue seems to exist, even within the scientific community. To partially cope with this uncertainty, this review article was written with the aim of exploring the concept of adult stem cells, describing how recent advances in this field are changing our view on the proliferative behavior of cell populations, and differentiating it from the concept of developmental stem cells. This paper is especially directed towards those scientists who have recently bumped into adult stem cell research and who might be uncertain of its scientific roots, in particular regarding the long-lasting debate on the classification of cell populations on the basis of their proliferative behavior, an issue that has been deeply affected by the recent advances in stem cell biology.
Adult stem cells and neurogenesis: historical roots and state of the art
BORRIONE P;
2001-01-01
Abstract
Over the last few years, an impressive number of papers have addressed the stem cell issue. However, as often occurs when a scientific subject undergoes a period of fast growth, some confusion is generated. To help reduce the existing uncertainty, this paper focuses on the concept of adult stem cells in relation to the classification of cell populations on the basis their proliferative behavior. Particular attention is dedicated to adult neural stem cells, an issue that has recently seen the most amazing advances. Finally, the concept of adult stem cells is differentiated from that of developmental stem cells in relation to the employment of stem cells for transplantation therapies. Anat Rec (New Anat) 265:132–141, 2001. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc. “Stem cells branch out!” proclaimed the introduction to a series of review articles that recently appeared in Science (Hines et al., 2000) addressing several issues related to stem cell research and ethics. This is only one out of a number of reviews, commentaries, and editorials published on stem cells during the last two years. On the other hand, a continuously increasing number of research articles reporting new experimental data on stem cells is confirming the trend that began in 1999 when this issue was considered as the breakthrough of the year by Science's editor (Bloom, 1999). In addition, due to the prospects for the translation of stem cell biology advancements to treatment of many severe diseases affecting various organs, such as Parkinson disease and Duchenne muscular distrophy (Björklund and Lindvall, 2000; Gussoni et al., 1999; Moore, 1999; Weissman, 2000a), stem cells are very much in the popular news now and great hopes are arising from the public about their therapeutic potential. In the context of this kaleidoscope of news, comments, hypotheses, and speculations by scientists owning a variety of cultural backgrounds, some confusion regarding the stem cell issue seems to exist, even within the scientific community. To partially cope with this uncertainty, this review article was written with the aim of exploring the concept of adult stem cells, describing how recent advances in this field are changing our view on the proliferative behavior of cell populations, and differentiating it from the concept of developmental stem cells. This paper is especially directed towards those scientists who have recently bumped into adult stem cell research and who might be uncertain of its scientific roots, in particular regarding the long-lasting debate on the classification of cell populations on the basis of their proliferative behavior, an issue that has been deeply affected by the recent advances in stem cell biology.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
