title: Neural differentiation potential of rat amniotic epithelial cells.
abstract: Amniotic epithelial cells (AEC) are thought to represent a stem-like cell population and to be an attractive cell source for regenerative medicine, because abundant cells can be obtained noninvasively at delivery. The authors investigated the neural differentiation potential of rat AEC. Rat AEC expressed vimentin and nestin, but not c-kit, oct-4, or nanog. The expression of the neural lineage markers, including betaIII-tubulin, neuron specific enolase (NSE), neurofilament-M, neuroD, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), myelin basic protein (MBP), tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), acetylcholinesterase (AChE), cholin acetyltransferase (ChAT), and mammalian achaete-scute homolog1 (MASH1), was detected by RT-PCR in the cultured rat AEC. After neural induction, rat AEC dramatically changed their shapes, projecting dendrite-like structures. Immunocytochemically, approximately 20% of the induced cells expressed an immature neuronal marker, betaIII-tubulin. Our findings suggested that rat AEC might be already committed to differentiate to various neural lineages and that they could differentiate to immature neurons in vitro.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Miki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shinya
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Komuro
authors.forename: Ryoko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Saihara
authors.forename: Yasuhisa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Urita
authors.forename: Michio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000650:Amnion / Q000166:cytology*; D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics*; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000235:genetics; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000166:cytology; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D015870:Gene Expression; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D007381:Intermediate Filament Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D064231:Nestin; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D014746:Vimentin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D007381:Intermediate Filament Proteins; C577484:NES protein, human; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; C577486:Nes protein, rat; D064231:Nestin; D014746:Vimentin