bFGF and IGF-1 promotes differentiation of bone mesenchymal stem cells into cardiomyocyte-like cells and its related mechanisms / 中国药理学通报

ABSTRACT

Aim To elucidate the biological effects of insulin-like growth factor-1 ( IGF-1 ) and basic fibro-blast growth factor (bFGF) alone or in combination on the differentiation of bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) into cardiomyocytes (CMs), and to explore the mechanism in the differentiation process of BMSCs into CMs induced by IGF-1 or bFGF. Methods After four weeks of BMSCs induced by induction differentiation medium ( with or without LY294002) containing IGF-1 and/or bFGF, the expression levels of proteins associated with the cardiomyogenic phenotype in BMSCs were detected via immunocytochemistry, immuno-fluorescence staining, and Western blot. Meanwhile, the expression levels of pathway related proteins were detected by Western blot. The cell ultrastructure was observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) . The expression levels of myocardial specific genes were measured via RT-qPCR. Results Compared with the control group, the expression levels of myocardial specific proteins and genes significantly increased in the IGF-1, bFGF and combination groups and were the highest in the coinduction group. The TEM of the conduction group showed parallel myofilaments, mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum and so on. The additon of LY294002 decreased the expression levels of myocardial specific proteins, genes and phosphorylation Akt. Conclusions The effect of IGF-1 combined with bFGF on the differentiation of BMSCs into CMs is markedly better than that induced by IGF-1 or bFGF a-lone, and the differentiation process may depend on the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.