Stem cells will help with birth defects and skull injuries

Researchers at the University of Southern California, working under the guidance of Dr. Yang Chai, have found that the cause of the development of rare skull defects in newborns is a deficiency of a special type of mesenchymal stem cells – Gli1+. They claim that the data they have obtained will give rise to new approaches to the treatment of birth defects and skull injuries.

According to the authors, according to the generally accepted opinion, all bones in the body practically do not differ from each other. However, in reality they are very different, have different sources of stem cells and use different recovery mechanisms.

In experiments on mice, the researchers traced the fate of mesenchymal stem cells expressing the Gli1 marker, which are part of the connective tissue connecting the craniofacial bones. It turned out that the deficiency of these cells leads to craniostenosis, a relatively rare (1 case per 2-5 thousand newborns, mainly boys) birth defect in which premature overgrowth of cranial sutures restricts the growth of the skull, leads to its deformation and prevents the development of the brain.

Moreover, when injected into mice with skull injuries, Gli1+ stem cells migrated to the area of damage and contributed to its recovery.

The authors note that with traditional surgical interventions on the skull, doctors often do not hesitate to remove fragments of connective tissue containing Gli1+ mesenchymal stem cells, which slows down recovery. They hope that over the next 10 years, their observations will form the basis of biological treatments that can replace traditional surgical approaches.

The introduction of Gli1+ mesenchymal stem cells into the sutures connecting the bones of the skull of newborns with craniostenosis will give them the missing plasticity necessary for normal growth of the skull and brain. In case of craniofacial bone injuries, these cells will stimulate the restoration of bone tissue damage.

Article by Hu Zhao et al. The suture provides a niche for mesenchymal stem cells of craniofacial bones published in the journal Nature Cell Biology.

Evgeniya Ryabtseva
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of the University of Southern California:
Stem Cells that Prevent Birth Defect Also Repair Facial Injuries.

27.04.2015