title: Egr1 mediated the neuronal differentiation induced by extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is a specific frequency of extremely low-frequency electromagnetic field (ELF-EMF) that promotes neuronal differentiation. Although several mechanisms are known to regulate ELF-EMF-induced neuronal differentiation, a key factor that mediates neurogenic potentials by the ELF-EMF is largely unknown. Also, the potential use of ELF-EMF exposure in cell transplantation assays is yet to be determined, including their possible use in ELF-EMF based therapy of neurological diseases. The aim of this study is to understand the underlying mechanisms that mediate ELF-EMF-induced neuronal differentiation and also to harness these mechanisms for cell transplantation assays.
  
  
  METHODS
  Human bone marrow-mesenchymal stem cells (hBM-MSCs) were exposed to ELF-EMF (50 Hz frequency, 1mT intensity) for 8 days. The hBM-MSC derived neurons were then analyzed by general molecular biology techniques including immunofluorescence and quantitative RT-PCR. To assess changes in gene expression induced by ELF-EMF exposure, we analyzed the transcriptome of neuronal cells after an 8-day ELF-EMF exposure (50 Hz, 1 mT) and compared the transcriptional profiles to control cells.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that early growth response protein 1 (Egr1) is one of the key transcription factors in ELF-EMF-induced neuronal differentiation. In addition, we show that transplantations of ELF-EMF-induced neurons significantly alleviate symptoms in mouse models of neurodegenerative disease.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings indicate that a specific transcriptional factor, Egr1, mediates ELF-EMF-induced neuronal differentiations, and demonstrate the promise of ELF-EMF based cell replacement therapies for neurodegenerative diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Dongguk University, Seoul 100-715, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Yeju
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Seong
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Dongguk University, Seoul 100-715, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jihye
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moon
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Dongguk University, Seoul 100-715, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: jpkim153@dongguk.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Jongpil
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D064987:Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy / Q000379:methods; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D051766:Early Growth Response Protein 1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D006801:Humans; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D051379:Mice; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology* / Q000637:transplantation; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D051766:Early Growth Response Protein 1
keywords: Egr1; Extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields; Human bone marrow–mesenchymal stem cell; Mouse neural stem cell; Neuronal differentiation; Transcription factor