ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To characterize bone marrow progenitors cells grown in vitro, using native goats from northeastern Brazil as animal model. METHODS: Ten northeastern Brazil native goats of both genders were used from the Piauí Federal University Agricultural Science Center's (UFPI) - Goat Farming Sector. Bone marrow aspirates where taken from the tibial ridge and seeded on culture plates for isolation, expansion and Flow Cytometry (expression markers - Oct-3/4, PCNA, Ck-Pan, Vimentina, Nanog). RESULTS: Progenitor cells showed colonies characterized by the presence of cell pellets with fibroblastoid morphology. Cell confluence was taken after 14 days culture and the non-adherent mononuclear cell progressive reduction. After the first passage, 94.36% cell viability was observed, starting from 4.6 x 106 cell/mL initially seeded. Cells that went through flow cytometry showed positive expression for Oct-3/4, PCNA, Ck-Pan, Vimentina, and Nanog. CONCLUSIONS: Bone marrow progenitor isolated of native goats from northeastern Brazil showed expression markers also seen in embryonic stem cells (Oct-3/4, Nanog), markers of cell proliferation (PCNA) and markers for mesenchymal cells (Vimentina and Ck-pan), which associated to morphological and culture growth features, suggest the existence of a mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) population in the goat bone marrow stromal cells studied. .