RESEARCH ARTICLE
Recent Studies Assessing the Proliferative Capability of a Novel Adult Stem Cell Identified in Menstrual Blood
Julie G. Allickson*, 1, Anthony Sanchez1, Natalie Yefimenko1, Cesar V. Borlongan2, Paul R. Sanberg2
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2011Volume: 3
First Page: 4
Last Page: 10
Publisher Id: TOSCJ-3-4
DOI: 10.2174/1876893801103010004
Article History:
Received Date: 3/07/2010Revision Received Date: 11/09/2010
Acceptance Date: 11/09/2010
Electronic publication date: /3/2011
Collection year: 2011
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
We are in the beginning of the era of regenerative medicine and many researchers are testing adult stem cells to be used for tissue repair and regeneration in the human body. Many adult stem cells have been discovered since the late 1990’s with more recently a novel adult stem cell described in menstrual blood. The menstrual blood is derived from shedding of the endometrial lining, specifically the functionalis layer, which contains highly proliferative cells used to prepare the female body for implementation of a fertilized egg. Cell characterization experiments of stromal stem cells discovered in menstrual blood have demonstrated cells to be multipotent which can successfully differentiate into cell lineages derived from the mesoderm and the ectoderm.
When menstrual blood cells were seeded in culture the average number of adherent cells was 8.50 % with a range of 0.48% to 47.76%. Demonstrating longevity one cell line allowed to grow was subcultured 47 times before complete senescence and death. The menstrual blood stromal stem cell phenotypic analysis incorporates mesenchymal cell markers such as CD13, CD29, CD44, CD49f, CD73, CD90, CD105, CD166, MHC Class I and pluripotent embryonic stem cell markers SSEA-4, Nanog and Oct-4. Karyotypic analysis demonstrated the maintenance of diploid cells without chromosomal abnormalities.
In conclusion preliminary studies have demonstrated menstrual stem cells are easily expandable to clinical relevance. Pivotal pre-clinical studies are now underway to test the safety and efficacy of menstrual stem cells in several different animal models including one for neuroprotection following transplantation into an experimental stroke model. The study demonstrates menstrual stem cells are a novel cell population that may be routinely and safely isolated to provide a renewable source of stem cells from child-bearing women.
