Neural Regeneration Research ›› 2015, Vol. 10 ›› Issue (8): 1312-1316.doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.162768

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Differentiation of Wharton’s jelly mesenchymal stem cells into neurons in alginate scaffold

Seyed Mojtaba Hosseini1, 2, 3, Attiyeh Vasaghi1, 2, Newsha Nakhlparvar1, 2, Reza Roshanravan4, Tahereh Talaei-khozani5, 6, *, Zahra Razi2, 7   

  1. 1 Student Research Committee, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
    2 Cell and Molecular Medicine Student Research Group, Medical School, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
    3 Stem Cell Laboratory, Department of Anatomy, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
    4 Colorectal Research Center, Department of Surgery, Shiraz University of Medical Science, Shiraz, Iran
    5 Tissue Engineering Laboratory, Department of Tissue Engineering, School of Advanced Medical Science and Technology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
    6 Laboratory for Stem Cell Research, Department of Anatomy, Medical School, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
    7 Department of Medical Physics, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
  • Received:2015-05-14 Online:2015-08-24 Published:2015-08-24
  • Contact: Tahereh Talaei-khozani,talaeit@sums.ac.ir.

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Abstract:

Alginate scaffold has been considered as an appropriate biomaterial for promoting the differentiation of embryonic stem cells toward neuronal cell lineage. We hypothesized that alginate scaffold is suitable for culturing Wharton’s jelly mesenchymal stem cells (WJMSCs) and can promote the differentiation of WJMSCs into neuron-like cells. In this study, we cultured WJMSCs in a three-dimensional scaffold fabricated by 0.25% alginate and 50 mM CaCl2 in the presence of neurogenic medium containing 10 μM retinoic acid and 20 ng/mL basic fibroblast growth factor. These cells were also cultured in conventional two-dimensional culture condition in the presence of neurogenic medium as controls. After 10 days, immunofluorescence staining was performed for detecting β-tubulin (marker for WJMSCs-differentiated neuron) and CD271 (motor neuron marker). β-Tubulin and CD271 expression levels were significantly greater in the WJMSCs cultured in the three-dimensional alginate scaffold than in the conventional two-dimensional culture condition. These findings suggest that three-dimensional alginate scaffold cell culture system can induce neuronal differentiation of WJMSCs effectively.

Key words: nerve regeneration, Wharton’s jelly mesenchymal stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells, neurons, motor neurons, alginate, 3D scaffold, neural regeneration