Open AccessIn Vitro Differentiation of Size‐Sieved Stem Cells into Electrically Active Neural Cells
Author(s) -
Hung ShihChieh,
Cheng Henrich,
Pan ChienYuan,
Tsai May J.,
Kao LungSen,
Ma HsiaoLi
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
stem cells
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.159
H-Index - 229
eISSN - 1549-4918
pISSN - 1066-5099
DOI - 10.1634/stemcells.20-6-522
Subject(s) - biology , neun , microbiology and biotechnology , enolase , neurofilament , stem cell , neurosphere , population , in vitro , adult stem cell , immunology , biochemistry , endothelial stem cell , immunohistochemistry , demography , sociology
Size‐sieved stem (SS) cells isolated from human bone marrow and propagated in vitro are a population of cells with consistent marker typing, and can form bone, fat, and cartilage. In this experiment, we demonstrated that SS cells could be induced to differentiate into neural cells under experimental cell culture conditions. Five hours after exposure to antioxidant agents (β‐mercaptoethanol ± retinoic acid) in serum‐free conditions, SS cells expressed the protein for nestin, neuron‐specific enolase (NSE), neuron‐specific nuclear protein (NeuN), and neuron‐specific tubulin‐1 (TuJ‐1), and the mRNA for NSE and Tau. Immunofluorescence showed that almost all the cells (>98%) expressed NeuN and TuJ‐1. After 5 days of β‐mercaptoethanol treatment, the SS cells expressed neurofilament high protein but not mitogen‐activated protein‐2, glial filament acidic protein, and galactocerebroside. For such long‐term‐treated cells, voltage‐sensitive ionic current could be detected by electrophysiological recording, and the intracellular calcium ion, Ca 2+ , concentration can be elevated by high potassium (K + ) buffer and glutamate. These findings suggest that SS cells may be an alternative source of undifferentiated cells for cell therapy and gene therapy in neural dysfunction.