Stem cells: Fusion brings down barriers

Medvinsky, Alexander
Smith, Austin

Alexander Medvinsky and Austin Smith are at the Institute for Stem Cell Research, University of Edinburgh, King's Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3JQ, UK. e-mail: [email protected][email protected]

Nature 422(6934):p 823-825, April 24, 2003.

It remains uncertain how tissue-specific stem cells could generate the mature cell types of another tissue. In one instance, where bone-marrow-derived stem cells repair damaged liver in mice, cell fusion is the answer.