Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Jun;18(3):189-198.
doi: 10.1007/s11914-020-00572-9.

Skeletal Stem Cells for Bone Development and Repair: Diversity Matters

Yuki Matsushita  1 , Wanida Ono  1 , Noriaki Ono  2
Affiliations
Review

Skeletal Stem Cells for Bone Development and Repair: Diversity Matters

Yuki Matsushita et al. Curr Osteoporos Rep. 2020 Jun.

Abstract

Purpose of review: Skeletal stem cells (SSCs) are considered to play important roles in bone development and repair. These cells have been historically defined by their in vitro potential for self-renewal and differentiation into "trilineage" cells; however, little is known about their in vivo identity. Here, we discuss recent progress on SSCs and how they potentially contribute to bone development and repair.

Recent findings: Bone is composed of diverse tissues, which include cartilage and its perichondrium, cortical bone and its periosteum, and bone marrow and its trabecular bone and stromal compartment. We are now at the initial stage of understanding the precise identity of SSCs in each bone tissue. The emerging concept is that functionally dedicated SSCs are encased by their own unique cellular and extracellular matrix microenvironment, and locally support its own compartment. Diverse groups of SSCs are likely to work in concert to achieve development and repair of the highly functional skeletal organ.

Keywords: Bone development; Bone regeneration; In vivo lineage-tracing experiments; Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs); Single-cell RNA-seq; Skeletal stem cells (SSCs).

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
During bone development, SSCs are sequestered into their own compartment and regulated by their own cellular and matrix environment, and acquire their stemness at the specific stages of skeletal development. During bone regeneration, each SSC can acquire a new potential and robustly contributes to regenerated bone
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Mendelson A, Frenette PS. Hematopoietic stem cell niche maintenance during homeostasis and regeneration. Nat Med. 2014;20(8): 833–46. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Méndez-Ferrer S, Michurina TV, Ferraro F, Mazloom AR, Macarthur BD, Lira SA, et al. Mesenchymal and haematopoietic stem cells form a unique bone marrow niche. Nature. 2010;466(7308):829–34. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wei Q, Frenette PS. Niches for hematopoietic stem cells and their progeny. Immunity. 2018;48(4):632–48. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Notta F, Zandi S, Takayama N, Dobson S, Gan OI, Wilson G, et al. Distinct routes of lineage development reshape the human blood hierarchy across ontogeny. Science. 2016;351(6269):aab2116. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Metcalf D On hematopoietic stem cell fate. Immunity. 2007;26(6): 669–73. - PubMed

Publication types