7. Transplantation of undifferentiated, bone marrow-derived stem cells

Stem cell research has known an enormous development, and cellular transplantation holds great promise for regenerative medicine. However, some aspects, such as the mechanisms underlying stem cell plasticity (cell fusion vs true transdifferentiation) and the functional improvement after stem cell transplantation, are highly debated. Furthermore, the great variability in methodology used by several groups, sometimes leads to confusing, contradicting results. In this chapter, we review a number of studies in this area with an eye on possible technical and other difficulties in interpretation of the obtained results.