Final Progress Report for the New Jersey Commission on Spinal Cord Research

Recent studies from our group differentiated adult human and rat bone marrow stromal stem cells (BMSCs) into neurons (Black and Woodbury, 2001; Woodbury et aI2002). Our ultimate goal was to use these cells in the therapeutic treatment of spinal cord injury. BMSCs normally differentiate only into mesenchymal cells, including bone, cartilage, muscle, tendon and fat. The differentiation of BMSCs into non-mesenchymal fates had not been demonstrated. Using a relatively simple treatment protocol, the stromal cells were found to be induced to differentiate into a "neuronal" fate in vitro. These differentiated cells exhibit neuronal morphological traits, and express a variety of neuron-specific genes (Black and Woodbury, 2001; Woodbury et al 2002). Clonal cell lines, established from single cells, proliferated, yielding both undifferentiated and neuronal cells. Our observations suggest that intrinsic genomic mechanisms of commitment, lineage restriction and cell fate are mutable. Environmental signals apparently can elicit the expression of pluripotentiality that extends well beyond the accepted fate restrictions of cells originating in classical embryonic germ layers.