Neural cell co-culture induced differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells into neuronal-like cells★

BACKGROUND: It has been previously demonstrated that the neural cell microenvironment has the ability to induce differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) into the neural cells.OBJECTIVE: To establish a co-culture system of human BMSCs and neural cells, and to observe effects of this co-culture system on differentiation of human BMSCs into neural cells.DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING: A comparative observation experiment, performed at the Center Labora-tory of the Affiliated Hospital of Medical College Qingdao University from October 2006 to December 2007.MATERIALS: Neural cells were obtained from human fetal brain tissue. BMSCs were harvested from fe-male patients that underwent autonomous stem cell transplantation. METHODS: BMSCs in the co-culture group consisted of BMSCs and third passage neural cells. BMSCs in the control group were solely cultured in vitro.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Morphological changes of BMSCs were observed, and expression of the neuronal specific marker, neuron-specific enolase (NSE), was analyzed by immunofluorescence staining after 4–5-day co-culture. RESULTS: The number of neural cells in the co-culture group increased and the cells spread on the culture bottle surface. Radial dendrite formed and connected with each other. NSE-immunoreactive cells were also detected. The positive ratio of NSE-positive cells reached (32.7±11.5)%, with morphological characteristics similar to neuronal cells. Human BMSCs did not express NSE in the control group.CONCLUSION: The microenvironment provided by neurons induced differentiation of BMSCs into neu-ronal-like cells.Key Words: bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells; stem cell transplantation; cell differentiation; neurons

Neural cell co-culture induced differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells into neuronal-like cells

BACKGROUND: It has been previously demonstrated that the neural cell microenvironment has the ability to induce differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) into the neural cells.OBJECTIVE: To establish a co-culture system of human BMSCs and neural cells, and to observe effects of this co-culture system on differentiation of human BMSCs into neural cells.DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING: A comparative observation experiment, performed at the Center Laboratory of the Affiliated Hospital of Medical College Qingdao University from October 2006 to December 2007.MATERIALS: Neural cells were obtained from human fetal brain tissue. BMSCs were harvested from female patients that underwent autonomous stem cell transplantation.METHODS: BMSCs in the co-culture group consisted of BMSCs and third passage neural cells. BMSCs in the control group were solely cultured in vitro.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Morphological changes of BMSCs were observed, and expression of the neuronal specific marker, neuron-specific enolase (NSE), was analyzed by immunofluorescence staining after4-5-day co-culture.RESULTS: The number of neural cells in the co-culture group increased and the cells spread on the culture bottle surface. Radial dendrite formed and connected with each other. NSE-immunoreactive cells were also detected. The positive ratio of NSE-positive cells reached (32.7±11.5)%, with morphological characteristics similar to neuronal cells. Human BMSCs did not express NSE in the control group.CONCLUSION: The microenvironment provided by neurons induced differentiation of BMSCs into neuronal-like cells.