Novel Stem Cells can Generate New Bone

Novel population of stem cells with the ability to create new bone has been discovered by a new study. The findings of the study are published in the journal Stem Cells. The lead investigator Dr. Ivo Kalajzic, professor of reconstructive sciences, postdoctoral fellows Dr. Sierra Root and Dr. Natalie Wee, and collaborators at Harvard, Maine Medical Research Center, and the University of Auckland present a new population of cells that reside along the vascular channels that stretch across the bone and connect the inner and outer parts of the bone.

"These cells likely regulate bone formation or participate in bone mass maintenance and repair," said Kalajzic.

Stem cells for bone have long been thought to be present within the bone marrow and the outer surface of the bone, serving as reserve cells that constantly generate new bone or participate in bone repair. Recent studies have described the existence of a network of vascular channels that helped distribute blood cells out of the bone marrow, but no research has proved the existence of cells within these channels that have the ability to form new bones.

In this study, Kalajzic and his team are the first to report the existence of these progenitor cells within the cortical bone that can generate new bone-forming cells - osteoblasts - that can be used to help remodel a bone.

To reach this conclusion, the researchers observed the stem cells within an ex vivo bone transplantation model. These cells migrated out of the transplant and began to reconstruct the bone marrow cavity and form new bone.

While this study shows there is a population of cells that can help aid bone formation, more research needs to be done to determine the cells' potential to regulate bone formation and resorption.

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Source-Eurekalert