title: L-carnitine Effectively Induces hTERT Gene Expression of Human Adipose Tissue-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Obtained from the Aged Subjects.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are attractive candidates for cell therapy and regenerative medicine due to their multipotency and ready availability, but their application can be complicated by the factors such as age of the donors and senescence-associated growth arrest during culture conditions. The latter most likely reflects the fact that aging of hMSCs is associated with a rise in intracellular reactive oxygen species, loss of telomerase activity, decrease in human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) expression and finally eroded telomere ends. Over-expression of telomerase in hMSCs leads to telomere elongation and may help to maintain replicative life-span of these cells. The aim of this study was to evaluate of the effect of L-carnitine (LC) as an antioxidant on the telomerase gene expression and telomere length in aged adipose tissue-derived hMSCs.
  
  
  METHODS
  For this purpose, cells were isolated from healthy aged volunteers and their viabilities were assessed by MTT assay. Quantitative gene expression of hTERT and absolute telomere length measurement were also performed by real-time PCR in the absence and presence of different doses of LC (0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 mM).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results indicated that LC could significantly increase the hTERT gene expression and telomere length, especially in dose of 0.2 mM of LC and in 48 h treatment for the aged adipose tissue-derived hMSCs samples.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It seems that LC would be a good candidate to improve the lifespan of the aged adipose tissue-derived hMSCs due to over-expression of telomerase and lengthening of the telomeres.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Raheleh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Farahzadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Alireza
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Mesbah-Namin
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Clinical Laboratories, Faculty of Medicine, Tabriz, Iran.|Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Advanced Medical Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Nosratollah
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zarghami
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Ezzatollah
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fathi
keywords: Antioxidant; Human MSCs; L-carnitine; hTERT gene expression