title: Effects of IGF-1 on neural differentiation of human umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cells.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) have been demonstrated to hold the potential to be applied in the treatment of kinds of disease. In recent years, some scientists have differentiated the cells into neural progenitor cells (NPCs) successfully, providing a new cell source for neural disease therapy. However, the differentiation methods still need to be improved for the clinical studies in the future. In this study, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) was tested to ameliorate UC-MSCs neural differentiation.
  
  
  METHODS
  IGF-1 overexpressing UC-MSCs (UC-MSCs-IGF-1) were established through retroviral infection, and further differentiated into NPCs through neural induction. The proliferation and differentiation ability of UC-MSCs derived NPCs were evaluated respectively and the associated signaling mechanisms were further analyzed with RNA microarray, qPCR and western-blot.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with NPCs from normal UC-MSCs, the NPCs derived from UC-MSCs-IGF-1 hold better proliferation ability and more Pax6-positive cells and Nestin-positive cells. Moreover, the UC-MSCs-IGF-1 derived NPCs could differentiate into astrocyte with higher efficiency during the process of terminal differentiation in vitro. RNA microarray analysis indicated that some key genes associated with neural differentiation and NPCs proliferation were upregulated, which were also confirmed with qPCR and western-blot. Finally, NPCs from UC-MSCs-IGF-1 transfected with IGF-1-siRNA showed a decrease of proliferation ability and astrocyte differentiation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study indicated that IGF-1 could improve neural differentiation of human UC-MSCs and provided a novel strategy to enhance astrocyte differentiation of NPCs from UC-MSCs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Second Clinical Medical College of Jinan University, Shenzhen People's Hospital, Shenzhen, PR China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Human Virology, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, PR China. Electronic address: fengyt11@sina.com.
authors.forename: Yetong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Second Clinical Medical College of Jinan University, Shenzhen People's Hospital, Shenzhen, PR China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Second Clinical Medical College of Jinan University, Shenzhen People's Hospital, Shenzhen, PR China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Department of Regenerative Medicine, School of Pharmaceutical Science, Jilin University, Changchun, PR China; Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiaobo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Regenerative Medicine, School of Pharmaceutical Science, Jilin University, Changchun, PR China; Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, PR China.
authors.forename: Yaoyu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Regenerative Medicine, School of Pharmaceutical Science, Jilin University, Changchun, PR China; Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, PR China.
authors.forename: Yifan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Regenerative Medicine, School of Pharmaceutical Science, Jilin University, Changchun, PR China; Key Laboratory of Regenerative Biology, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, PR China. Electronic address: rockman123456@sina.com.
authors.forename: Pengfei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, PR China. Electronic address: tyalan@jnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yalan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000187:drug effects; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects; D002460:Cell Line; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000235:genetics* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000187:drug effects*; D064231:Nestin / Q000096:biosynthesis; D058953:Neural Stem Cells / Q000187:drug effects*; D000071841:PAX6 Transcription Factor / Q000096:biosynthesis; D011247:Pregnancy; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000494:pharmacology; D014470:Umbilical Cord / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D064231:Nestin; D000071841:PAX6 Transcription Factor; C000605733:Pax6 protein, rat; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I
keywords: Cell proliferation; Insulin-like growth factor-1; Neural differentiation; Umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cells