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Dual stem-cell populations interact in the skull

The discovery that the skull has two groups of stem cell that produce similar types of descendant cell has big implications for the field of stem-cell research — and casts light on a developmental disorder that affects many children.
  1. Andrei S. Chagin

    1. Andrei S. Chagin is at the Institute for Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg 413 46, Sweden.

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  2. Dana Trompet

    1. Dana Trompet is at the Institute for Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg 413 46, Sweden.

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During adult life, the differentiated cells required to maintain the function of a tissue are generated from stem cells located within that tissue, generally from a single population of stem cells. But writing in Nature, Bok et al.1 report that the skull harbours two distinct populations of stem cells that have complementary functions under physiological conditions, but might work in opposing directions under conditions that cause disorders.

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Nature 621, 698-699 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02547-z

References

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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