Muse cells and Neurorestoratology

Abstract

Multilineage-differentiating stress-enduring (Muse) cells were discovered in 2010 as a subpopulation of mesenchymal stroma cells (MSCs). Muse cells can self-renew and tolerate severe culturing conditions. These cells can differentiate into three lineage cells spontaneously or in induced medium but do not form teratoma in vitro or in vivo. Central nervous system (CNS) diseases, such as intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), cerebral infarction, and spinal cord injury are normally disastrous. Despite numerous therapy strategies, CNS diseases are difficult to recover. As a novel kind of pluripotent stem cells, Muse cells have shown great regeneration capacity in many animal models, including acute myocardial infarction, hepatectomy, and acute cerebral ischemia (ACI). After injection into injury sites, Muse cells survived, migrated, and differentiated into functional neurons with synaptic junctions to local neurons and contributed to recovery of function. Furthermore, Muse cell differentiation did not need to be induced pre-transplantation and no tumors were observed post- transplantation. The Muse cell population is promising and may lead to a revolution in regenerative medicine. This review focuses on recent advances regarding the Muse cells therapies in Neurorestoratology and discusses future perspectives in this field.