《生命科学》 2005, 17(1): 25-29

成体干细胞的可塑性：横向分化还是细胞融合？

钱　晖^1，2，黄淑帧^1*

1上海交通大学医学遗传研究所，上海 200040；2 江苏大学医学技术学院检验医学研究所，镇江 212001

摘　要：摘　要：近年来研究显示成体干细胞(adult stem cells)具有可塑性（plasticity），不仅可以生成它们所在组织的成熟细胞，而且在特定环境下能分化成其他组织类型细胞，这种跨系或跨胚层分化现象称为横向分化或转分化(transdifferentiation)。横向分化已为成体干细胞的研究和临床应用包括组织器官损伤的修复提供了新的思路和应用前景。然而，最近的一些研究进展又引出不同的解释，即成体干细胞的可塑性是由于细胞融合(cell fusion)的结果。在此，就成体干细胞的可塑性、横向分化、细胞融合等方面研究作一综述。
关键词：成体干细胞；可塑性；横向分化；细胞融合

Plasticity of adult stem cells: transdifferentiation or cell fusion

QIAN Hui^1，2， HUANG Shu-Zhen^1*

1 Institute of Medical Genetics， Shanghai Jiaotong University， Shanghai 200040， China; 2 School of Medical Technology， Jiangsu University， Zhenjiang 212001， China

Abstract: Abstract: Recent progress in stem cell researches indicates that adult stem cells maintain a high degree of plasticity for multilineage cell differentiation. Adult stem cells not only can differentiate into the cell types of the same tissues in which they reside， but also may transdifferentiate into a completely different tissue derivative. This transdifferentiation of adult stem cells has become a holy grail of stem cell therapeutics， promising the eventual clinical use of these adult stem cells in regenerating a cornucopia of damaged tissues. However， there are some other comments doubting its very existence， suggesting that cell fusion may explain some of the observed plasticity of adult stem cells. Here we review plasticity of adult stem cells， transdifferentiation and cell fusion.
Key words: adult stem cells; plasticity; transdifferentiation; cell fusion