Adult neural stem cell plasticity

Stem cells derived from adult tissues have long been considered multipotent, able to differentiate into a limited number of cell types found in their tissue of origin. Recent studies indicate that adult neural stem cells (NSCs) demonstrate greater plasticity under certain conditions, resulting in the derivation of a variety of cell types including muscle, hematopoietic, and epithelial cells. Development of the animal results in the formation of a chimera, an animal containing functioning cells from another organism [Figure 1]A. The transplanted stem cells may be found within the tissue of their origin, or, if demonstrating expanded plasticity, be found in non-traditional tissues. In another study, neural progenitor differentiation into skeletal muscle cells has been demonstrated after transplantation into regenerating muscle of adult mice (Galli et al., 2000).