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Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor Induces Cholinergic Differentiation of Tonsil-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells

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Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Aims and scope

Abstract

Background:

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are considered a potential tool for regenerating damaged tissues due to their great multipotency into various cell types. Here, we attempted to find the appropriate conditions for neuronal differentiation of tonsil-derived MSCs (TMSCs) and expand the potential application of TMSCs for treating neurological diseases.

Methods:

The TMSCs were differentiated in DMEM/F-12 (Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium/Nutrient Mixture F-12) supplemented with various neurotrophic factors for 7–28 days to determine the optimal neuronal differentiation condition for the TMSCs. The morphologies as well as the levels of the neural markers and neurotransmitters were assessed to determine neuronal differentiation potentials and the neuronal lineages of the differentiated TMSCs.

Results:

Our initial study demonstrated that DMEM/F12 supplemented with 50 ng/mL basic fibroblast growth factor with 10 μM forskolin was the optimal condition for neuronal differentiation for the TMSCs. TMSCs had higher protein expression of neuronal markers, including neuron-specific enolase (NSE), GAP43, postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD95), and synaptosomal-associated protein of 25 kDa (SNAP25) compared to the undifferentiated TMSCs. Immunofluorescence staining also validated the increased mature neuron markers, NeuN and synaptophysin, in the differentiated TMSCs. The expression of glial fibrillar acidic protein and ionized calcium-binding adaptor molecule 1 the markers of astrocytes and microglia, were also slightly increased. Additionally, the differentiated TMSCs released a significantly higher level of acetylcholine, the cholinergic neurotransmitter, as analyzed by the liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and showed an enhanced choline acetyltransferase immunoreactivity compared to the undifferentiated cells.

Conclusion:

Our study suggests that the optimized condition favors the TMSCs to differentiate into cholinergic neuron-like phenotype, which could be used as a possible therapeutic tool in treating certain neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the grant of the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Korean Government (2019R1A2C1086767) and Creative and Exploratory Research (2021R1I1A1A01046931). The research was also supported by the RP-Grant 2021 from Ewha Womans University. We also thank NeuroVIS (Hwaseoung-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea) for LC-MS/MS analysis of the neurotransmitter concentrations in the culture media.

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Author notes

  1. Ji-Hye Song and Se-Young Oh have contributed equally to this study.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nanobiomedical Science & BK21 PLUS NBM Global Research Center for Regenerative Medicine, Dankook University, 119 Dandae-ro, Dongnam-gu, Cheonan, Chungnam, 31116, Republic of Korea

    Ji-Hye Song & Sangmee Ahn Jo

  2. Department of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, Dankook University, Cheonan, Chungnam, 31116, Republic of Korea

    Ji-Hye Song & Sangmee Ahn Jo

  3. Department of Molecular Medicine and Graduate Program in System Health Science and Engineering, College of Medicine, Ewha Womans University, 25 Magokdong-ro-2-gil, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, 07804, Republic of Korea

    Se-Young Oh

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Correspondence to Sangmee Ahn Jo.

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Ethical statement

The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the Ewha Womans University Medical Center institutional review board (ECT-11-53-02). Informed written consent forms were collected from all patients and/or their legal parents/guardians.

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Song, JH., Oh, SY. & Jo, S.A. Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor Induces Cholinergic Differentiation of Tonsil-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells. Tissue Eng Regen Med 19, 1063–1075 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13770-022-00474-0

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