Muse Cells and VSEL Stem Cells in Longevity and Rejuvenation

Multilineage-differentiating stress-enduring cells (Muse cellsMuse cells) and very small embryonic-like (VSEL) stem cellsVery small embryonic-like (VSEL) stem cells are natural pluripotent stem cellsPluripotent stem cells (PSCs). They can be a universal remedy for recovery/rejuvenationRejuvenation of any type of cells in metazoans. Muse cellsMuse cells and VSELs are small, rare and self-renewable. They are quiescent but in stress or injury, they migrate into the damaged site, differentiate into the cells compatible with the homing tissue and rejuvenate the cell population. Muse cellsMuse cells could be easier isolated and appeared to be therapeutically more efficient. That is why they may conquer the biomedicine faster than other stem cells. Survival and proliferation of Muse cellsMuse cells depend on the adherence of their environment. Therefore, it seems that Muse cellsMuse cells ‘know’ the number of cells to be sent to recover the damage. Although Muse composition and function are not fully identified, their repair efficiency was demonstrated in numerous pre-clinical studies, involving the models of acute myocardial infarction, stroke, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, wound healing of diabetic ulcers, skin regeneration and various pathological conditions of the liver, kidney, and lung. For unknown reasons, exploration of the agingAging aspects of Muse cellsMuse cells has thus far been ignored. Muse cellsMuse cells make up only 0.03% of the bone marrow mononucleated cells or a few percent of mesenchymal stem cells in various tissues. What was the reason for the evolutionary ‘greed’ for a more generous distribution of these universal rescue cells? What could be done to increase population and robustness of these cells which seem to be crucial for longevityLongevity and rejuvenationRejuvenation? There is a lot of similarity between VSELs and Muse cellsMuse cells. However, VSELs are known in gerontology because they have been studied in murine agingAging models. VSELs content decreased over 17-fold in the bone marrow of mice within 2–36 months of age. Population of these cells can be increased by the calorie-restriction, physical exercising, administration of nicotinamide, valproic acid, and other small-molecules. Damaged cells are nearly everywhere in an agingAging organism. It is important that these rescue systems are situated nearby in virtually every tissue. We believe that the non-declared competition between iPSCs, Muse cellsMuse cells, VSEL stem cells, ESCs, spore-like cellsSpore like cells and other stem cells will be in favor for rejuvenationRejuvenation and health span.