review study: effect of growth factors on human mesenchymal stem cells differentiation into cartilage tissue

Hyaline cartilage is a vascular and neural tissue with scanty chondrocytes and limited regenerative ability. After some serious injuries of the cartilage, healing process will take place through the formation of fibrocartilage structures. Currently, tissue engineering and cell therapy are 2 interesting therapeutic fields dealing with regenerative medicine. In this regard, tissue regeneration has found mesenchymal stem cells [MSCs] with self-renewal and multipotential abilities as the best candidates for this process. Growth and differentiation of MSCs are induced by growth factors. The purpose of this review article is to evaluate the effect of growth factors and their signaling pathways involved in differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells into chondrocytes in vitro conditions

Comparative study of microtubule-associated protein-2 and glial fibrillary acidic proteins during neural induction of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells and adipose-derived stem cells

In recent years, adipose tissue, due to the stem cells contained within, has found a new special place in laboratory and clinical applications. These adipose-derived stem cells [ADSCs] have the same characteristics of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells [BMSCs]. Although bone marrow [BM] is not easily accessible and its procurements may be painful, most patients possess excess fat which can be obtained by less invasive methods; this makes adipose tissue ubiquitous, available and an ideal large-scale source for research on clinical applications. BMSCs and ADSCs were harvested from three healthy human and were characterized using flow-cytometry. After they were treated for neurosphere formation using basic fibroblast growth factor, epidermal growth factor, B27; terminal differentiation was performed. In this study, we used immunocytochemistry, real time-polymerase chain reaction and western blotting techniques for detection and comparison of Nestin, microtubule-associated protein-2 [MAP-2] and glial fibrillary acidic protein [GFAP] markers in human ADSCs and BMSCs. Under appropriate conditions ADSCs can differentiate into neuron-like cells and express neural markers the same as BMSCs, also the expression of GFAP marker in differentiated cells derived from ADSCs was significantly lower than the cells derived from BMSCs [P < 0.05]. While the expression of MAP-2 marker in both groups was the same. However, due to its advantages and according to our results based on the expression levels of GFAP and MAP-2, adipose tissue rather than BM could represent a more appropriate stem cell source for investigating the application of these cells in understanding the pathophysiology and in treatment of neurodegenerative disorders

Comparing three methods of co-culture of retinal pigment epithelium with progenitor cells derived human embryonic stem cells

Close interaction between retinal pigment epithelium [RPE] and photoreceptors plays an essential role in visual function. The objective of this study is to determine the effects of RPE cells in the differentiation of progenitor derived human embryonic stem cells [hESC] into retinal cells; we developed in vitro co-culture models and compare these models to investigate in which model the expression of photoreceptor markers is superior. It seems the effects of RPE cells on differentiation of retinal progenitor cells [RPCs] through the cell-to-cell contact or with the use of insert and compare of these methods has not been reported yet. Initially, retinal progenitors [RPs] were differentiated from hESC. After isolation of RPE sheet from rabbit eyes, demonstrated these cells maintains the integrity and feature after 2 weeks. Next, we examined the induction of photoreceptors by the co-culture of RPE through insert in 1 week and 2 weeks [indirect] or without insert by the cell-to-cell contact [direct]. The differentiation of retinal cells was verified by protein and gene expression in these three methods. The adherent cells were morphologically examined using phase contrast microscopy and characterized by immunofluorescent staining and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction [RT PCR]. Evaluation of immunostaining showed that hESC, highly [>80%] can be directed to the RPs fate. Upon co-culture of RPCs with RPE sheet using insert for 2 weeks or by the cell-to-cell contact, these cells differentiated to neural retina and expressed photoreceptor specific markers. However, in direct co-culture, some mature photoreceptor markers like arrestin expressed in compare with indirect co-culture. The expression of late photoreceptor marker could be improved when RPE cells seeded on RPCs in compare with the use of insert.

[Cephalometric indices of schizophrenic patients]

Background and Aim: The growing evidence of neurodevelopmental basis to schizophrenia has focused attention on the prenatal development of individuals who later develop the illness. Some previous studies carried out about cephalometry of schizophrenic adult patients showed different findings. This study aimed to compare cephalometric indices of schizophrenic patients with normal population

Method and Materials: In the current case-control study, we compared cephalometric indices of 195 schizophrenic patients with those of 198 normal comparison people who were matched for age, sex, height, weight and social status

Findings: The results demonstrated a significant difference between the two groups. The frequency of hyperbrachycephaly in schizophrenic group was significantly higher than in the control group [P < 0.05, X2 = 17.65], but this difference existed only between schizophrenic males and control males[P < 0.05, X2 = 14.42]

Conclusion: Hyperbrachycephaly typically results from early closure of coronal suture. In general, the findings attract the attention toward the role of biologic and genetic factors in etiology of schizophrenia