Advances in studying the differentiation into neurons of mesenchymal stem cells and their application

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a population of multipotent cells that can proliferate and differentiate into marrow and non-marrow cell types, such as adipocytes, chondrocytes, myocytes, and so on. In recent years, many researchers have studied whether MSCs are capable of differentiation into neurons in vivo and ex vivo. The result that MSCs-derived neurons express NSE and NF, but don't express GFAP suggests MSCs can differentiate into neurons, some researchers have achieved success in promoting functional recovery in Pakinsons and transactional spinal cord injury rat models by use of MSCs-derived neurons. Therefore, MSCs-derived neurons will play an important role in the therapy for a variety of diseases of the nervous system.