title: Differentiation of rhesus adipose stem cells into dopaminergic neurons.
abstract: LIM homeobox transcription factor 1a (Lmx1a) has the capacity to initiate the development program of neuronal cells and promote the differentiation of embryonic stem cells into dopaminergic neurons. In this study, rhesus adipose stem cells were infected with recombinant adenovirus carrying the Lmx1a gene and co-cultured with embryonic rat neural stem cells. Cell differentiation was induced using sonic hedgehog and fibroblast growth factor-8. Immunofluorescence staining showed that cells were positive for neuron-specific enolase and β-tubulin III. Reverse transcription-PCR results demonstrated that rhesus adipose stem cells were not only positive for neuron-specific enolase and β-tubulin III, but also positive for the dopaminergic neuron marker, tyrosine hydroxylase, neurofilament, glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor family receptor α2 and nuclear receptor related factor 1. The number of Lmx1a gene-infected cells expressing the dopaminergic neuron marker was substantially greater than the number of cells not infected with Lmx1α gene. These results suggest that Lmx1a-mediated regulation combined with the strategy of co-culture with neural stem cells can robustly promote the differentiation of rhesus adipose stem cells into dopaminergic neurons.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Laboratory, Institute of Medical Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Kunming 650118, Yunnan Province, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Laboratory, Institute of Medical Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Kunming 650118, Yunnan Province, China.
authors.forename: Maosheng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Laboratory, Institute of Medical Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Kunming 650118, Yunnan Province, China.
authors.forename: Hongjun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Laboratory, Institute of Medical Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Kunming 650118, Yunnan Province, China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Laboratory, Institute of Medical Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Kunming 650118, Yunnan Province, China.
authors.forename: Tianhong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Xie
keywords: LIM homeobox transcription factor 1a; Parkinson’s disease; adipose stem cells; co-culture; differentiation; dopaminergic neurons; neural regeneration; neural stem cells; neurodegenerative disease; rhesus