Neural Stem Cell Therapy and Gastrointestinal Biology Heather M. Young  Gastroenterology  Volume 129, Issue 6, Pages 2092-2095 (December 2005) DOI: 10.1053/j.gastro.2005.10.033 Copyright © 2005 American Gastroenterological Association Terms and Conditions

Figure 1 Main possible sources of cells, and the major steps involved to replace defective or absent enteric neurons. To obtain enteric neural stem cells, cell sorting can be used for the selective extraction of neural stem or progenitor cells from the gut, or neurospheres can be generated by culturing dissociated gut cells; the latter method is not dependent on the expression of specific intracellular or cell surface markers. Neural stem cells from the fetal brain also give rise to neurons when transplanted into the GI tract. For diseases in which specific phenotypic classes of neurons are missing or defective, it may be possible to use cell sorting to select specific classes of neural progenitors or to induce selectively the production of particular types of progenitors before implantation (dotted lines), although these strategies have yet to be explored. Although not shown in the diagram, human ES and neural stem cells from adult brain are also potential sources of cells capable of generating ENS cells. Micrograph of embryonic gut-derived neurosphere courtesy of Dr Vincent Lui, University of Hong Kong. Illustration by Jerry Schoendorf, MAMS. Gastroenterology 2005 129, 2092-2095DOI: (10.1053/j.gastro.2005.10.033) Copyright © 2005 American Gastroenterological Association Terms and Conditions