| First Author | Carlone DL | Year | 2021 |
| Journal | Stem Cells | Volume | 39 |
| Issue | 3 | Pages | 296-305 |
| PubMed ID | 33438789 | Mgi Jnum | J:341842 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:6742211 | Doi | 10.1002/stem.3318 |
| Citation | Carlone DL, et al. (2021) Telomerase expression marks transitional growth-associated skeletal progenitor/stem cells. Stem Cells 39(3):296-305 |
| abstractText | Skeletal progenitor/stem cells (SSCs) play a critical role in postnatal bone growth and maintenance. Telomerase (Tert) activity prevents cellular senescence and is required for maintenance of stem cells in self-renewing tissues. Here we investigated the role of mTert-expressing cells in postnatal mouse long bone and found that mTert expression is enriched at the time of adolescent bone growth. mTert-GFP(+) cells were identified in regions known to house SSCs, including the metaphyseal stroma, growth plate, and the bone marrow. We also show that mTert-expressing cells are a distinct SSC population with enriched colony-forming capacity and contribute to multiple mesenchymal lineages, in vitro. In contrast, in vivo lineage-tracing studies identified mTert(+) cells as osteochondral progenitors and contribute to the bone-forming cell pool during endochondral bone growth with a subset persisting into adulthood. Taken together, our results show that mTert expression is temporally regulated and marks SSCs during a discrete phase of transitional growth between rapid bone growth and maintenance. |
