Adult Mesenchymal Stem Cells, Adult Neural Crest Stem Cells and Therapy of Neurological Pathologies: a State of Play

Adult stem cells are endowed with in vitro multi-lineage differentiation abilities, and constitute an attractive autologous source of material for cell therapy in neurological disorders. With regards to lately published results, the ability of adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) and neural crest stem cells (NCSC) to integrate and differentiate into neurons once inside the central nervous system (CNS) is currently questioned. In this review, we collected exhaustive data on MSC/NCSC neural differentiation in vitro. We then analyzed pre-clinical cell therapy experiments in different models for neurological diseases and concluded that neural differentiation is probably not the leading property of adult MSC and NCSC concerning neurological pathologies management. Definitely, a fine analysis of the molecules that are secreted by MSC and NCSC would be of significant interest regarding their important contribution to the clinical and pathological recovery after CNS lesions