Cell Transplantation Analysis
Cell transplantation was pioneered in the 1950s using haematopoietic stem cells to repopulate the bone marrow in patients with cancers of blood and bone marrow. In animal models, hepatocytes derived from stem cells can be engrafted into the damage liver, and lineage-specific stem cells can repair damaged cornea. Recently more transplantation studies are performed. To date a number of cell types have been shown to successfully engraft into the myocardium, including fetal, neonatal, and embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) provides a reliable tool for charaterizing the fate and location of cells in transplantation experiments. Apart from that, the FISH detection can unravel cell fusion phenomena, which could account for apparent transdifferentiation events.