Abstract
Over nearly half a century, transplantation methods have been employed to regenerate the mammary gland in vivo. Recent highly cited reports claim to have demonstrated the regeneration of an entire functional mammary gland from a single mammary epithelial cell. Nevertheless, re-examination of the literature on the transplantation biology of mammary gland regeneration reveals that a complex, combinatorial interaction between variously differentiated mammary epithelial cells and the mammary fat pad stroma is indispensable to this process. In the present article, these issues are reviewed and discussed to provide a greater understanding of the complexity of these multiplex interactions.
Highlights
The experiments that demonstrate the presence of stem cells in the mammary gland are based on the pioneering studies of DeOme and his students, Les Faulkin and Charles Daniel
The cleared fat pad transplantation technique allowed the transplantation and growth of normal mammary cells into their normal anatomical site and under the influence of a normal physiological environment. They demonstrated that the normal mammary gland contains cells that will grow and fill the fat pad with a normal ductal mammary tree and will respond to hormones with a normal differentiation program [3]
Continuous hormone stimulation did not induce additional loss of ductal growth potential. These studies suggested that the mammary stem cell is a relatively quiescent cell that is only activated under conditions of gland repopulation. Under other conditions, such as pregnancy, it is probable that ductal and alveolar progenitor cells form the bulk of the increased mammary epithelial cell population [7]
Summary
Experimental mammary epithelial morphogenesis in an in vivo model: evidence for distinct cellular progenitors of the ductal and lobular phenotype. 9. Daniel CW, Young LJ, Medina D, DeOme KB: The influence of mammogenic hormones on serially transplanted mouse mammary gland. Kamiya K, Higgins PD, Tanner MA, Gould MN, Clifton KH: Kinetics of mammary clonogenic cells and rat mammary cancer induction by X-rays or fission neutrons.
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