Long-term cultured human umbilical cord neural-like cells transplanted into the striatum of NOD SCID mice.

The use of stem cells and other cells as therapies is still in its infancy. One major setback is the limited survival of the grafts, possibly due to immune rejection. Studies were therefore performed with human umbilical cord blood cells (HUCB) to determine the ability of these cells to survive in vivo and the effect of the immune response on their survival by transplantation into the normal striatum of immunodeficient NOD SCID mice.

A comparison of dopaminergic cells from the human NTera2/D1 cell line transplanted into the hemiparkinsonian rat.

Human NT cells derived from the NTera2/D1 cell line express a dopaminergic phenotype making them an attractive vehicle to supply dopamine to the depleted striatum of the Parkinsonian patient. In vitro, hNT neurons express tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), depending on the length of time they are exposed to retinoic acid. This study compared two populations of hNT neurons that exhibit a high yield of TH+ cells, MI-hNT and DA-hNT.

Trophic factor induction of human umbilical cord blood cells in vitro and in vivo.

The mononuclear fraction of human umbilical cord blood (HUCBmnf) is a mixed cell population that multiple research groups have shown contains cells that can express neural proteins. In these studies, we have examined the ability of the HUCBmnf to express neural antigens after in vitro exposure to defined media supplemented with a cocktail of growth and neurotrophic factors. It is our hypothesis that by treating the HUCBmnf with these developmentally-relevant factors, we can expand the population, enhance the expression of neural antigens and increase cell survival upon transplantation.

Influence of retinoic acid and lithium on proliferation and dopaminergic potential of human NT2 cells.

Our laboratory is working with the human NTera2/D1 (NT2) cell line, which has properties similar to those of progenitor cells in the central nervous system (CNS). These neural-like precursor cells can differentiate into all three major lineages, neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes. The pure neuronal population, hNT neurons, possess characteristics of dopamine (DA) cells.

Human umbilical cord blood progenitors: the potential of these hematopoietic cells to become neural.

The mononuclear fraction from human umbilical cord blood (HUCB) contains a significant number of stem/progenitor cells that in theory could be come any cell in the body, including neurons. Taking into consideration that transdifferentiation would be a very rare event and also knowing that overlapping genetic programs for hematopoiesis and neuropoiesis exist, we undertook a characterization of the HUCB mononuclear fraction, including analysis of cellular subpopulations and their morphology, cell viability, proliferation, and expression of neural and hematopoietic antigens. Two cell populations were apparent-adherent and floating fractions.