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Human Wharton’s jelly mesenchymal stem cells (WJ-MSCs) exhibit CD29, CD79 and CD105 markers, characteristic for mesenchymal cell lines. Under the influence of the appropriate factors, WJ-MSCs can be dedifferentiated to osteoblasts, chondrocytes, adipocytes, myocytes, cardiomyocytes, glial cells and dopaminergic neurons. Wharton’s jelly (WJ) is one of the potential sources of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) - obtaining these cells does not raise moral or ethical objections, because the umbilical cord (UC) is a regular waste material. The expression of the OCT-4 and Nanog proteins, which are characteristic for WJ-MSCs may indicate that these cells have retained some embryonic character. The collected data suggests that WJMSCs show increased division and telomerase activity compared to bone marrow MSCs (BM-MSCs). The published results showed no human leucocyte antigen (HLA) class II expression, with the possibility of HLA class I modification by WJ-MSCs, allowing for the transplantation of these cells both within the same and other species - which allows the use of human cells in animal models. The results of selected studies indicate that WJ-MSCs can be an essential element of regenerative medicine of the 21st century.

In order to study the most abundant GABAA receptor subtypes expressed in cholinergic, dopaminergic, noradrenergic and serotonergic neurons (i.e., in neurons of the so-called "global" projection systems), we employed double-immunocytochemical techniques combining the labeling of GABAA receptor alpha1, alpha2 and alpha3 subunit with markers for these cells. Cholinergic neurons in the striatum, habenula, and pedunculo-pontine nucleus were immunonegative for the alpha1 subunit, and most were also alpha2-immunonegative. However, cholinergic neurons in the striatum, septum and pedunculo-pontine nucleus were alpha3 immunopositive. Dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta were highly immunopositive for the alpha3, and noradrenergic neurons in the locus coeruleus were immunoreactive for the alpha3 and the alpha2-subunit; although neurons of these areas were negative for alpha1. Similarly, serotonergic neurons in raphe also showed a high level of labeling of alpha3, while there was a lack of immunoreactivity for the alpha1-subunit, and only some individual neurons were positive for the alpha2 subunit. As the presence of different alpha-subunits confers specific physiological and pharmacological properties to GABAA receptors, the abundance of receptors containing the alpha3 subunit (and the scarcity of receptor subtypes including the other alpha-subunits studied) may have important implications for the GABAergic regulation of brain "global" or "diffuse" projection systems.