Tissue Engineering Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research

Stem Cells Niche

A stem-cell niche is an area of a tissue that provides a specific microenvironment, in which stem cells are present in an undifferentiated and self-renewable state. Cells of the stem-cell niche interact with the stem cells to maintain them or promote their differentiation. The general niche model involves the association between resident stem cells and heterologous cell types—the niche cells.