Turning brain into blood: A hematopoietic fate adopted by adult neural stem cells in vivo

Stem cells are found in various organs where they participate in tissue hom eostasis by replacing differentiated cells Lost to physiological turnover o r injury. An investigation was performed to determine whether stem cells ar e restricted to produce specific cell types, namely, those from the tissue in which they reside. After transplantation into irradiated hosts; genetica lly labeled neural stem cells were found to produce a variety of blood cell types including myeloid and lymphoid cells as well as early hematopoietic cells. Thus, neural stem cells appear to have a wider differentiation poten tial than previously thought.