News Finding: Surprisingly, in absence of any stimuli, some adherent cells closely resembling neuronal and glial morphology were also observed.
Paper Finding: Differentiation assays, flow cytometry, immunofluorescence and TEM analyses confirmed the stemness of these cells.
News Context: Immunofluorescence analysis showed a high percentage of positive cells for OCT-4 and SSEA-1. Surprisingly, in absence of any stimuli, some adherent cells closely resembling neuronal and glial morphology were also observed. Interestingly, our results revealed that approximately 15 % of the cell populations were TUJ-1 positive, whereas GFAP expression was detected in only a few cells.
Paper Context: This study demonstrated that a viable stem cell population can be isolated and expanded from equine cadaver ligaments up to 72 hours post-mortem. Differentiation assays, flow cytometry, immunofluorescence and TEM analyses confirmed the stemness of these cells. Our research may benefit the development of an advantageous source of stem cells for regenerative medicine and cell therapy technologies.