Laminin promotes oligogliogenesis and increases MMPs activity in human neural stem cells of HUCB-NSC line.

Oligodendrocytes, the cells responsible for myelin formation and maintenance in CNS, are depleted in many acute and chronic conditions. The stem/progenitor cells stimulation or transplantation might be seriously considered as a long hoped for therapeutic perspective. Better understanding of the mechanism(s) regulating the activation of the cell lineage from the endogenous progenitor reservoir might be helpful. Therefore an efficient source of donor cells for transplantation in humans is being craved for. In this study we show that the application of extracellular matrix component-laminin promotes oligogliogenesis from neural stem-like cells of human cord blood cells (HUCB-NSC). Although oligodendrocytes constitute a minor subpopulation of spontaneously differentiated HUCB-NSC, the manipulation of active compounds regulating the process of cell commitment results in a several fold increase in their number. Thus cells of the HUCB-NSC line could be considered as a potential source of glial cells, fulfilling the suitable candidate criteria for oligodendrocyte replacement therapy.