RESUMO
Cell therapy of many neurodegenerative diseases using bone marrow stromal cells [BMSC] requires the differentiation of BMSC into neuronal subtype. However, the transdifferentiation of BMSC into GABAergic phenotype requires more investigation. In this study, BMSC of adult female rats were pre-induced into neuroblast-like cells using 1 mM beta-mercaptoethanol [PME] and 10 micro M retinoic acid [RA], followed by 40 mM potassium chloride as inducer. The BMSC were evaluated by fibronectin as well as Oct-4. The percentage of nestin, neurofilaments [NF 68, NF 160, and NF 200] and GABA immuno-reactive cells was used to evaluate the GABAergic differentiation at the pre-induction and induction stages. The statistical analysis was carried out using unpaired student's t-test and ANOVA with Tukey's multiple comparison. The BMSC in the fourth passage expressed fibronectin up to 91.24 +/- 0.82%. The pre-induced cells after 2 days of RA exposure showed the expression of neuroblastic markers of nestin and NF68 [81.56 +/- 2.64% and 82.12 +/- 2.65%, respectively]. The yield of GABAergic neurons with beta-ME for 1 h and RA as pre-inducer for 2 days followed by potassium chloride as inducer [40 mM for 3 days] was 60.64% +/- 1.97%. In addition, NF160 and NF200 were detected in the transdifferentiated cells. RT-PCR showed no expression of Oct-4 after the induction and pre-induction stages. GABAergic-like neurons obtained from BMSC can be potentially used in cell transplanting for some neurodegenerative disorders