Adipose-derived Stem Cells Neural Differentiation Efficiency in Vitro

Objectives: Schwann cells (SCs) transplantation is effective in peripheral nerve repair, but it is difficult to acquire sufficient and highly purified SCs for clinical application. Adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) could be induced into a SC phenotype, so the purpose of this study is to investigate which protocol is most effective for ADSCs neural differentiation. Methods: We isolated and multiplied ADSCs from adult Sprague-Dawley rats, adopted four protocols to induce ADSCs to differentiate into a SC phenotype. Immunoassaying, Western blot analysis, RT-PCR and qRT-PCR were performed to investigate the gene and protein expression relative quantity difference of S100, Nestin and GFAP. Results: Immunostaining, Western blot analysis and RT-PCR results proved all four protocols could successfully induce ADSCs to express Nestin, GFAP and S100. qRT-PCR results further showed the above three gene expression relative quantity differences in statistics. Conclusions: Our study suggested that some cell growth factors not only could induce ADSCs neural differentiation, but also could stabilize such differentiation at least in two weeks; as a pre-induction agent, dimethyl sulphoxide was much better than all-trans-retinoic acid for ADSCs neural differentiation; whilst platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and neurotrophic factor (NGF) were almost same effective during such differentiation.