Central nervous system cells from neural stem cells of the peripheral nervous system have been produced by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt and the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg.

The researchers exposed stem cells from the peripheral nervous system of embryonic or postnatal mice to different culture conditions. Neural crest stem cells also developed into different types of glial cells of the central nervous system, including oligodendrocytes and astrocytes.

They found that if peripheral stem cells are maintained under defined growth conditions, they generate oligodendrocytes, which form the myelin layer that surrounds the neurons found in the brain and spinal cord.

“The reprogrammed stem cells can form cells of the central nervous system, and the new cells can permanently integrate into this system,” says Verdon Taylor of the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics.

Ref: Ellen Binder, Marion Rukavina, Hessameh Hassani, Marlen Weber, Hiroko Nakatani, Tobias Reiff, Carlos Parras, Verdon Taylor, and Hermann Rohrer, Peripheral nervous system progenitors can be reprogrammed to produce myelinating oligodendrocytes and repair brain lesions, Journal of Neuroscience, April 27, 2011, DOI:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0129-11.2011