Benefits of dedifferentiated stem cells for neural regeneration

Dedifferentiation, as one of the mechanisms rerouting cell fate, regresses cells from a differentiated status to a more primitive one. Due to its potential of amplifying the stem/progenitor cell pool and reproducing sizable and desirable cellular elements, it has been attended in the field of regenerative medicine, which will hopefully provide novel therapeutic strategies for currently incurable diseases, such as varieties of central nervous system (CNS) diseases and injuries. In this article, we will first discuss naturally occurring and experimentally induced dedifferentiation, and then set forth principles in stem-cell based therapy in the neural field; beyond that, we will introduce two recent studies that show dedifferentiated stem cells contribute to neural regeneration. Moreover, we also present our recent research results of dedifferentiated muscle stem cells for neurogenic differentiation study in vitro. Further work will be conducted to elucidate the mechanism underlying the dedifferentiation process to facilitate the development of new strategies in regenerative medicine.