| Abstract: | Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM‐MSCs) were first cultured under induction of retinoic acid (RA), Sertoli cells conditioned medium and RA + con (conditioned medium) as treatment groups. The presence of Sertoli cells was confirmed by immunocytochemistry of follicle‐stimulating hormone receptor in Sertoli cells and flow cytometry by anti‐Gata4 antibody. Cell viability and morphology of nucleus and cytoplasm of BM‐MSCs were evaluated by MTT test and DAPI staining respectively. The expression of Oct4, Plzf, Scp3, Caspases 8, 9 and 3 genes was evaluated by RT‐PCR. For increasing the accuracy of experiment, the expression of Vasa and SCP3 genes was investigated quantitatively by real‐time PCR after 0, 5, 10, 15 days of culture. The results showed that the number of apoptotic cells increased in RA group. The expression of apoptosis genes (Caspases 3, 8 and 9) was also observed in this group all days of culture. Measurement of Vasa and Scp3 genes by RT‐PCR confirmed the positive effects of retinoic acid on increasing of genes expression. So, in this study, a group with maximum expression of differentiation genes and minimum expression of apoptotic genes was RA + conditioned medium group. DNA fragmentation was not observed in all groups. |
