Bone morphogenetic protein-7 induced bone marrow stromal cells differentiate into neuron-like cells

Bone morphogenetic protein-7 is widely accepted as an inducer for bone marrow stem cells differ-entiating into osteoblasts and chondrocytes. Whether bone marrow stromal cells differentiate into neuron-like cells remains unclear. The current study examined the presence of positive cells for in-termediate filament protein and microtubule associated protein-2 in the cytoplasm of bone marrow stromal cells induced by bone morphogenetic protein-7 under an inverted microscope, while no expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein was found. Reverse transcription PCR electrophoresis also revealed a positive target band for intermediate filament protein and microtubule-associated protein 2 mRNA. These results confirmed that bone morphogenetic protein-7 induces rat bone marrow stromal cells differentiating into neuron-like cells.