Neural” differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells

Therapeutic benefits of bone marrow MSCs use in the neurological disorders exist. Although, currently there is not a clear understanding of the detailed mechanisms by which MSCs mediate neural recovery. Early studies suggested that MSCs injected into the lateral ventricles of developing animals differentiated into neural cell types. However, latter data showed that appearance of GFAP positive MSCs derivatives was consequence of cells fusion. Moreover, older data suggesting transdifferentiation of mesenchymal stem cells into neural derivatives is poorly supported by the current data. Many of articles suggesting neural differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells appeared as based on controversial, or even inconsistent data. Surprisingly, authors analyzing putative neural differentiation of bone marrow MSCc do not present corresponding results of neural differentiation of neural progenitors. Moreover, markers of neural differentiation can be misleading. To this end, neural differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells should be considered as controversial.