title: Cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript promotes the differentiation of mouse bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells into neural cells.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Neural tissue has limited potential to self-renew after neurological damage. Cell therapy using BM-MSCs (bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells) seems like a promising approach for the treatment of neurological diseases. However, the neural differentiation of stem cells influenced by massive factors and interactions is not well studied at present.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this work, we isolated and identified MSCs from mouse bone marrow. Co-cultured with CART (0.4 nM) for six days, BM-MSCs were differentiated into neuron-like cells by the observation of optical microscopy. Immunofluorescence demonstrated that the differentiated BM-MSCs expressed neural specific markers including MAP-2, Nestin, NeuN and GFAP. In addition, NeuN positive cells could co-localize with TH or ChAT by double-labled immunofluorescence and Nissl bodies were found in several differentiated cells by Nissl stain. Furthermore, BDNF and NGF were increased by CART using RT-PCR.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrated that CART could promote the differentiation of BM-MSCs into neural cells through increasing neurofactors, including BNDF and NGF. Combined application of CART and BM-MSCs may be a promising cell-based therapy for neurological diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Drum Tower Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, 321 Zhongshan Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210008, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhuo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Danqing
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Meijuan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zhibin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jiali
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Siyuan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Zhuo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zhongyuan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects*; D051379:Mice; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects*; D000098882:Cocaine- and Amphetamine-Regulated Transcript Protein
chemical_list: D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D000098882:Cocaine- and Amphetamine-Regulated Transcript Protein