Human umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cells differentiate into neuron-like cells:in vitro induction by mouse nerve growth factor / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Human umbilical cord blood mesenchymal stem cells (hUCB-MSCs) are a kind of adult stem cells in the human umbilical cord blood, which have the potential to differentiate into neuron-like cells and can be used for the treatment of a variety of nervous system diseases. How to effectively induce hUCB-MSCs differentiation into neuron-like cells is always a hotspot in the stem cell research, which is of high scientific research value. OBJECTIVE: To explore the induction effect of mouse nerve growth factor (mNGF) on the differentiation of human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells into neuron-like cells in vitro. METHODS: The donated hUCB-MSCs were resuscitated and the cell morphology after culture was observed to draw a cell growth curve. Passage 5 cells were cultured in the culture medium containing 0 (blank control), 50, 100, 150, 200 μg/L mNGF, and the cell morphology was observed and recorded daily under inverted phase contrast microscope. Immunocytochemistry detection was used to examine the expression of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) at 7 days of induction, and then the NSE and GFAP positive expression was calculated by Image-Pro Plus 6.0 software. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The viability of resuscitated hUCB-MSCs was up to over 90%. The cell morphology was in long shuttle shape and spindle shape with unequal size, and the cells presented with "S"-shaped growth curve and entered the logarithmic growth phase at 3-6 days. Typical neuron-like changes were observed after induction by mNGF; however, there was no change in the cell morphology in the control group. Immunocytochemical staining showed that the induced cells were positive for both NSE and GFAP, and the highest positive rates of NSE and GFAP were observed after induction by 100 μg/L mNGF (P < 0.05). In the control group, there was no positive expression of NSE and GFAP.To conclude,mNGF can induce the in vitro differentiation of hUCB-MSCs into neuron-like cells,and 100 μg/L mNGF can achieve the best induction effect.