Human Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells Differentiated into Neuron-Like Cells via Laminin and Schwann Cells

Background: Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUMSCs) have been considered to repair damaged tissues and cells. This study aims to investigate the differentiation efficiency affected by Schwann cells (SCs) and laminin and also compare them to other strategies using chemicals or growth factors. Methods: SCs and hUMSCs were separated from dorsal root ganglion of rats and newborn human umbilical cords (hUCs), respectively, and then cultured. The marker expressions of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), hematopoietic and endothelial for hUMSCs were confirmed by flow cytometry. The hUMSCs were cultured in four groups: 1) control, 2) co-culture with SCs (C), 3) laminin (L), and 4) co-culture with SCs treated by laminin (CL). The expression of protein and gene-related differentiation NSE, MAP2 and beta-tubulin were examined by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunocytochemistry after 12 days. Results: The flow cytometry analysis revealed high expression of mesenchymal and low expression of hematopoietic and endothelial markers, where the SCs expressed S100 at a high level (97.4% +/- 2.25). The expression of NSE, MAP2 and beta-tubulin increased significantly in the C, L and CL groups compared to the control group (P < 0.001), where the CL group had the highest expression among the groups [7.59 +/- 0.126, 7.87 +/- 0.191, 6.36 +/- 0.420, respectively, (P < 0.01)]. Also, the expression of neural proteins was significantly increased in tested groups in comparison to the control group. Conclusion: Combined laminin and SCs co-culturing with hUMCSs could be the most effective strategy for neural differentiation.