Brain-derived ischemia-induced multipotent stem cells

Abstract

It is an established concept that damaged brains undergo irreversible change after cerebral infarction and that only necrotic and inflammatory cells are observed within post-ischemic areas. However, using a mouse model of cortical infarction, we have shown that endogenous neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs) are activated within post-ischemic areas following cerebral infarction. We named these cells injury/ischemia-induced NSPCs (iNSPCs) because they can differentiate into neural lineages. However, we recently found that iNSPCs exhibit multipotent stem cell activity and that they can differentiate into not only neural but also non-neural lineage cells. In this article, we introduce the origin and characterization of these brain-derived ischemia-induced multipotent stem cells (BiSCs) based on our reports and recent viewpoints. We also refer to possible regeneration by BiSCs following cerebral infarction.