Adult human olfactory stem cells

The location of stem cells within the adult CNS makes them impractical for surgical removal and autologous transplantation. Their limited availability and histocompatibility issues further restrict their use. In contrast, olf actory neuroepithelium (ONe) located in the nasal passageways has a continu ous regenerative capability and can be biopsied readily. To investigate the potential of human ONe to provide viable populations of pluripotent cells, ONe was harvested from cadavers 6-18 h postmortem, dissociated, plated and fed every 3-4 days. Heterogeneous populations of neurons. glia, and epithe lia were identified with lineage-specific markers. After several weeks, 5-1 0% of the cultures produced a population of rapidly dividing cells, which i n turn, produced neurospheres containing at least two subpopulations based on neuronal and glial specific antigens. Most contained one or more neurona l markers; a few were positive for A2B5 and/or GFAP. To determine if growth modulators would affect the neurosphere forming cells, they were exposed t o dibutyryl-cAMP. The nucleotide reduced cell division and increased proces s formation. Although the cells had been passaged more than 70 times, their viability remained constant as shown by the MTT viability index. Donor age or sex were not limiting factors, because neurospheres have been establish ed from cadavers of both sexes from 50 to 95 years old at time of death. Th e ex vivo expansion of these cells will provide a patient-specific populati on of cells for immunological, genetic and pharmacological evaluation. Our long-term goal is to determine the utility of these cells to facilitate CNS repair. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.