Key Molecule Instructs Fat Stem Cells to Become Fat and Bone Marrow Stem Cells to Become Bone

What is it about?

Tissue-specific stem cells reside in almost every tissue in our body and they are found to be with blood vessels in the environment. Scientists have speculated that stem cells and blood vessels may affect each other for achieving biological activities. In this study, we looked into how a physiological molecule, endothelin-1, mainly produced by blood vessel cells and functioning to cause vasoconstriction affected activities of stem cells isolated from fat and bone marrow. We found that the cell from fat under the influence of the molecule preferentially turned into fat cells whereas the cell from bone marrow under the influence of the same molecule preferentially became bone cells. We were able to purify a small fraction of the stem cells that responded to stimulation of the molecule to effectively turn into fat or bone cells. Our results indicate that both of the stem cells containing mixed populations of cells are not the same type of cells and suggest that it is possible to prepare stem cells from fat or bone marrow effective for controlled fat or bone formation in clinical applications, such as tissue repair and disease treatment.

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Why is it important?

Fat- and bone marrow-derived stem cells have been extensively studied as therapeutic agents in cell therapies and tissue engineering for regenerative applications but some fundamental questions associated with cell properties and functions still remain unanswered. For example, it was unclear whether these two cell types are the same and which of them is suitable for bone repair or fat tissue reconstruction. In our study, we have answered these questions: fat- and bone-marrow-derived stem cells have different propensity for lineage-specific differentiation and tissue formation, and bone marrow-derived stem cells are suitable for bone regeneration and fat-derived stem cells are for fat regeneration. We have also identified a subpopulation in the heterogenous stem cells for improved outcomes of fat or bone formation, suggesting that preparation of the cell subpopulation may be a viable approach for therapeutic applications.