Direct genesis of functional rodent and human Schwann cells from skin mesenchymal precursors (human)

ABSTRACT: Recent reports of directed reprogramming have raised questions about the stability of cell lineages. Here, we have addressed this issue, focusing upon skin-derived precursors (SKPs), a dermally-derived precursor cell. We show by lineage tracing that murine SKPs from dorsal skin originate from mesenchymal and not neural crest-derived cells. These mesenchymally-derived SKPs can, without genetic manipulation, generate functional Schwann cells, a neural crest cell type, and are highly similar at the transcriptional level to Schwann cells isolated from the peripheral nerve. This is not a mouse-specific phenomenon, since human SKPs that are highly similar at the transcriptome level can be made from facial (neural crest-derived) and foreskin (mesodermally-derived) dermis, and the mesodermally-derived SKPs can make myelinating Schwann cells. Thus, non-neural crest-derived mesenchymal precursors can differentiate into bona fide peripheral glia in the absence of genetic manipulation, suggesting that developmentally-defined lineage boundaries are more flexible than widely thought. We obtained 4 independent samples of neonatal human foreskin and 4 independent samples of discarded facial skin tissue from children less than two years old. Primary cells were isolated and cultured as SKPs and RNA was collected from those cultured samples. RNA samples deriving from these cells were analyzed on the Affymetrix Human Gene 2.0 ST Array.

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

SUBMITTER: Freda Miller 

PROVIDER: E-GEOD-57518 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress