Sex mismateched stem cell transplantation
Abbildung 1: Sex mismatched stem cell transplantation to track progeny cells: claims on the plasticity of stem cells often rely on the appearance of Y-positive cells in female recipients of male bone marrow transplant donors (left). Injection of marked bone marrow cells from female donors into male recipients is more suitable to demonstrate fusion events because marked Y chromosome-positive cells found in the recipient must have been formed by a fusion event (right).


Keywords: Geschlecht,  Reproduktionsmedizin,  Schema,  scheme,  sex,  Stammzelle,  stem cell,  transplantation,  transplantation

Adult stem cell plasticity
Abbildung 2: Commonly used methods to examine adult stem cell plasticity and to discriminate fusion from plasticity: cells of transgenic mice expressing markers such as green fluorescent protein (GFP) or LacZ, which are expressed in all cells of transgenic mice, are frequently used to demonstrate the plasticity potential of certain cells, originally belonging to a given cell lineage. For example, when GFP-positive bone marrow cells are injected into wildtype mice and these cells are found in tissues not related to the tissue of origin, it is believed that a lineage switch has occurred. In the case of transplantation of bone marrow cells, lethal irradiation of the recipient should guarantee that no stem cells of the wild type mouse contributes to the observed transdifferentiation or fusion.


Keywords: plasticity,  Plastizität,  Reproduktionsmedizin,  Schema,  scheme,  Stammzelle,  stem cell