A hematopoietic growth factor, thrombopoietin, has a proapoptotic role in the brain.

Central nervous and hematopoietic systems share developmental features. We report that thrombopoietin (TPO), a stimulator of platelet formation, acts in the brain as a counterpart of erythropoietin (EPO), a hematopoietic growth factor with neuroprotective properties. TPO is most prominent in postnatal brain, whereas EPO is abundant in embryonic brain and decreases postnatally.

Mesengenic progenitor cells derived from human placenta.

Progenitor cells with differentiation capacity along multiple mesengenic lineages are attractive tools for numerous purposes in regenerative medicine. Such mesengenic progenitor cells have been isolated from adult mammalian bone marrow, and we here report placental tissue as an alternative source for these cells. By means of dissection/proteinase digestion techniques, high numbers of viable mononuclear cells were harvested from human placenta at term, and a mesenchymal cell population with characteristic expression of CD9, CD29, and CD73 was obtained in culture.