TY - JOUR A1 - Burns, Alan J. A1 - Goldstein, Allan M. A1 - Newgreen, Donald F. A1 - Stamp, Lincon A1 - Schäfer, Karl-Herbert A1 - Metzger, Marco A1 - Hotta, Ryo A1 - Young, Heather M. A1 - Andrews, Peter W. A1 - Thapar, Nikhil A1 - Belkind-Gerson, Jaime A1 - Bondurand, Nadege A1 - Bornstein, Joel C. A1 - Chan, Wood Yee A1 - Cheah, Kathryn A1 - Gershon, Michael D. A1 - Heuckeroth, Robert O. A1 - Hofstra, Robert M.W. A1 - Just, Lothar A1 - Kapur, Raj P. A1 - King, Sebastian K. A1 - McCann, Conor J. A1 - Nagy, Nandor A1 - Ngan, Elly A1 - Obermayr, Florian A1 - Pachnis, Vassilis A1 - Pasricha, Pankaj J. A1 - Sham, Mai Har A1 - Tam, Paul A1 - Vanden Berghe, Pieter T1 - White paper on guidelines concerning enteric nervous system stem cell therapy for enteric neuropathies JF - Developmental Biology N2 - Over the last 20 years, there has been increasing focus on the development of novel stem cell based therapies for the treatment of disorders and diseases affecting the enteric nervous system (ENS) of the gastrointestinal tract (so-called enteric neuropathies). Here, the idea is that ENS progenitor/stem cells could be transplanted into the gut wall to replace the damaged or absent neurons and glia of the ENS. This White Paper sets out experts' views on the commonly used methods and approaches to identify, isolate, purify, expand and optimize ENS stem cells, transplant them into the bowel, and assess transplant success, including restoration of gut function. We also highlight obstacles that must be overcome in order to progress from successful preclinical studies in animal models to ENS stem cell therapies in the clinic. KW - Neural crest cells KW - Rat mynteric plexus KW - Intestinal pseudoobstruction KW - Hypertrophic pyloric-stenosis KW - Hirschsprung disease liability KW - Slow-transit constipation KW - Oxide synthase gene KW - Term follow-up KW - Nitric-oxide KW - In-vivo KW - Enteric nervous system KW - Enteric neuropathies KW - Stem cells KW - Cell replacement therapy KW - Hirschsprung disease Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-187415 VL - 417 IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weider, Matthias A1 - Wegener, Amélie A1 - Schmitt, Christian A1 - Küspert, Melanie A1 - Hillgärtner, Simone A1 - Bösl, Michael R. A1 - Hermans-Borgmeyer, Irm A1 - Nait-Oumesmar, Brahim A1 - Wegner, Michael T1 - Elevated in vivo levels of a single transcription factor directly convert satellite glia into oligodendrocyte-like cells JF - PLoS Genetics N2 - Oligodendrocytes are the myelinating glia of the central nervous system and ensure rapid saltatory conduction. Shortage or loss of these cells leads to severe malfunctions as observed in human leukodystrophies and multiple sclerosis, and their replenishment by reprogramming or cell conversion strategies is an important research aim. Using a transgenic approach we increased levels of the transcription factor Sox10 throughout the mouse embryo and thereby prompted Fabp7-positive glial cells in dorsal root ganglia of the peripheral nervous system to convert into cells with oligodendrocyte characteristics including myelin gene expression. These rarely studied and poorly characterized satellite glia did not go through a classic oligodendrocyte precursor cell stage. Instead, Sox10 directly induced key elements of the regulatory network of differentiating oligodendrocytes, including Olig2, Olig1, Nkx2.2 and Myrf. An upstream enhancer mediated the direct induction of the Olig2 gene. Unlike Sox10, Olig2 was not capable of generating oligodendrocyte-like cells in dorsal root ganglia. Our findings provide proof-of-concept that Sox10 can convert conducive cells into oligodendrocyte-like cells in vivo and delineates options for future therapeutic strategies. KW - peripheral nervous system KW - Hirschsprung disease KW - spinal-cord KW - boundary cap KW - differentiation KW - stem cells KW - factor Sox10 KW - mouse model KW - expression KW - Olig2 Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-144123 VL - 11 IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hetz, Susan A1 - Acikgoez, Ali A1 - Voss, Ulrike A1 - Nieber, Karen A1 - Holland, Heidrun A1 - Hegewald, Cindy A1 - Till, Holger A1 - Metzger, Roman A1 - Metzger, Marco T1 - In Vivo Transplantation of Neurosphere-Like Bodies Derived from the Human Postnatal and Adult Enteric Nervous System: A Pilot Study JF - PLOS ONE N2 - Recent advances in the in vitro characterization of human adult enteric neural progenitor cells have opened new possibilities for cell-based therapies in gastrointestinal motility disorders. However, whether these cells are able to integrate within an in vivo gut environment is still unclear. In this study, we transplanted neural progenitor-containing neurosphere-like bodies (NLBs) in a mouse model of hypoganglionosis and analyzed cellular integration of NLB-derived cell types and functional improvement. NLBs were propagated from postnatal and adult human gut tissues. Cells were characterized by immunohistochemistry, quantitative PCR and subtelomere fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). For in vivo evaluation, the plexus of murine colon was damaged by the application of cationic surfactant benzalkonium chloride which was followed by the transplantation of NLBs in a fibrin matrix. After 4 weeks, grafted human cells were visualized by combined in situ hybridization (Alu) and immunohistochemistry (PGP9.5, GFAP, SMA). In addition, we determined nitric oxide synthase (NOS)-positive neurons and measured hypertrophic effects in the ENS and musculature. Contractility of treated guts was assessed in organ bath after electrical field stimulation. NLBs could be reproducibly generated without any signs of chromosomal alterations using subtelomere FISH. NLB-derived cells integrated within the host tissue and showed expected differentiated phenotypes i.e. enteric neurons, glia and smooth muscle-like cells following in vivo transplantation. Our data suggest biological effects of the transplanted NLB cells on tissue contractility, although robust statistical results could not be obtained due to the small sample size. Further, it is unclear, which of the NLB cell types including neural progenitors have direct restoring effects or, alternatively may act via 'bystander' mechanisms in vivo. Our findings provide further evidence that NLB transplantation can be considered as feasible tool to improve ENS function in a variety of gastrointestinal disorders. KW - Hirschsprung disease KW - benzalkonium chloride KW - progenitors KW - GUT KW - rat KW - colon KW - biology KW - therapy KW - neural stem-cell KW - motility disorders Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-116793 VL - 9 IS - 4 ER -