Neuronal differentiation of adipose-derived stem cells and their transplantation for cerebral ischemia

OBJECTIVE： To review published data on the biological characteristics, differentiation and applications of adipose-derived stem cells in ischemic diseases. DATA RETRIEVAL： A computer-based online search of reports published from January 2005 to June 2012 related to the development of adipose-derived stem cells and their transplantation for treatment of cerebral ischemia was performed in Web of Science using the key words ＂adipose-derived stem cells＂, ＂neural-like cells＂, ＂transplantation＂, ＂stroke＂, and ＂cerebral ischemia＂. SELECTION CRITERIA： The documents associated with the development of adipose-derived stem cells and their transplantation for treatment of cerebral ischemia were selected, and those published in the last 3-5 years or in authoritative journals were preferred in the same field. Totally 89 articles were obtained in the initial retrieval, of which 53 were chosen based on the inclusion criteria. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES： Biological characteristics and induced differentiation of adipose-derived stem cells and cell transplantation for disease treatment as well as the underlying mechanism of clinical application. RESULTS： The advantages of adipose-derived stem cells include their ease of procurement, wide availability, rapid expansion, low tumorigenesis, low immunogenicity, and absence of ethical constraints. Preclinical experiments have demonstrated that transplanted adipose-derived stem cells can improve neurological functions, reduce small regions of cerebral infarction, promote angiogenesis, and express neuron-specific markers. The improvement of neurological functions was demonstrated in experiments using different methods and time courses of adipose-derived stem cell transplantation, but the mechanisms remain unclear. CONCLUSION： Further research into the treatment of ischemic disease by adipose-derived stem cell transplantation is needed to determine their mechanism of action.

Neural cell injury microenvironment induces neural differentiation of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells

This study aimed to investigate the neural differentiation of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells （hUCMSCs） under the induction of injured neural cells. After in vitro isolation and culture, passage 5 hUCMSCs were used for experimentation, hUCMSCs were co-cultured with normal or AI31.4o-injured PC12 cells, PC12 cell supernatant or PC12 cell lysate in a Transwell co-culture system. Western blot analysis and flow cytometry results showed that choline acetyltransferase and microtubule-associated protein 2, a specific marker for neural cells, were expressed in hUCMSCs under various culture conditions, and highest expression was observed in the hUCMSCs co-cultured with injured PC12 cells. Choline acetyltransferase and microtubule-associated protein 2 were not expressed in hUCMSCs cultured alone （no treatment）. Cell Counting Kit-8 assay results showed that hUCMSCs under co-culture conditions promoted the proliferation of injured PC12 cells. These findings suggest that the microenvironment during neural tissue injury can effectively induce neural cell differentiation of hUCMSCs. These differentiated hUCMSCs likely accelerate the repair of injured neural ceils.

In vitro assay of cytoskeleton nanomechanics as a tool for screening potential anticancer effects of natural plant extract, tubeimoside I on human hepatoma (HepG2) cells

Cytoskeleton nanomechanics characterizes cancer cell's physical behaviors such as how it spread and invade. For anticancer drug, cytoskeleton nanomechanics may be a target to inhibit invasiveness and metastasis of cancer cells. Therefore, in vitro assay of cytoskeleton nanomechanics may be used to evaluate the effects of potential anticancer drug on various cancer types. Here, we investigated the effects of tubeimoside I (TBMS I) on human hepatoma (HepG2) cells by using optical magnetic twisting cytometry, a well-established technique for measuring nanomechanics of the Factin cytoskeleton. TBMS I is a natural compound extracted from a traditional Chinese herbal medicine, and is reported with antitumor effect. In this study, we demonstrated that the cytoskeleton stiffness (G) of HepG2 cells was affected by TBMS I. G′ exhibited a typical power law with respect to the loading frequency (f), i.e. G^f . The magnitude of G′ and the value of exponent (α) of the HepG2 cells decreased consistently with the increase of concentration for TBMS I exposure. In addition, the HepG2 cells responded to TBMS I much faster than the normal liver (L-02) cells. Such alteration of cytoskeleton nanomechanics induced by TBMS I was reported for the first time, which was further corroborated by assays of Factin cytoskeleton structure and cell migration. Taken together, these results suggest that in vitro assay of cytoskeleton nanomechanics may have a great potential as an additional tool in screening of anticancer drug candidates.