Abbildung 2: Adult stem cell plasticity
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.