The nuclei of human adult stem cells can move within the cell and generate cellular protrusions to contact other cells

Abstract

Despite a considerable interest in understanding the mechanisms regulating nucleus structure, chromatin organization and nuclear positioning over decades, the exact significance of the variety of morphologies and positioning that cell nuclei can adopt and their relationship in cellular function is still far from being clearly understood. In this study, we examined the functional significance of the variety of morphologies and positioning that cell nuclei of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells can adopt during neural-like differentiation. Here, we show that after neural induction, human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells enter an intermediate cellular state in which the nuclei are observed to be able to move within the cells, switching shapes and positioning and even generating cellular protrusions as they attempt to contact the cells around them. These findings suggest that changes in nuclear positioning are due to the fact that human cell nuclei somehow sensing their environment.