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Circadian rhythms

Stem cells traffic in time

Nature volume 452, pages 416–417 (2008)Cite this article

Circadian activity in the brain regulates the movement of blood stem cells into and out of the bone marrow. Perhaps this process is testing the suitability of these cell 'tenants' for their new home — the remodelling bone.

All tissue-specific stem cells move around during embryonic development. But mammalian haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), which are precursors to all blood cell types, continue to migrate via the bloodstream throughout adulthood. Many of the molecules that locally mediate HSC movement between the bone marrow and the bloodstream have been identified, perhaps the most prominent example being CXCL12. This protein is essential for the movement of HSCs to the bone marrow during development and their retention there in adulthood. By contrast, the mechanisms underlying the trafficking of stem cells in adulthood, and their physiological significance, have remained relatively obscure. On page 442 of this issue, Frenette and colleagues (Méndez-Ferrer et al.)1 show that HSC circulation and CXCL12 expression are coupled to the homeostatic oscillatory processes that regulate broad aspects of an organism's function — circadian rhythms.

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Figure 1: Pacemaker activity and cooperativity between bone and bone-marrow cells.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. David T. Scadden is at the Center for Regenerative Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA. dscadden@mgh.harvard.edu,

    David T. Scadden

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  1. David T. Scadden
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Scadden, D. Stem cells traffic in time. Nature 452, 416–417 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/452416a

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