Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells derived from Wharton's jelly differentiate into cholinergic-like neurons in vitro.

Jun Liang, Shan Wu, Hui Zhao, Shu-Lei Li, Zhi-Xin Liu, Jiang Wu, Li Zhou

Department of Pathology, Norman Bethune Medical College of Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China.

Neuroscience letters 2013 Jan 4

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In Alzheimer's disease patients, dysfunction of the cholinergic neurons is one of the causes of cognitive disorders. Although there is still no effective cure for theses diseases and conditions, some promising strategies are currently available to replace these damaged cells. Wharton's jelly mesenchymal stem cells (WJ-MSCs) derived from umbilical cord appeared as a promising cell source for cell replacement therapy. However, the capacity of WJ-MSCs to differentiate into cholinergic-like neurons remains undetermined. In this study, we examined whether WJ-MSCs could differentiate into cholinergic-like neurons in vitro. After induction, the spindle-shaped or fibroblast-like WJ-MSCs changed into bulbous cells. The induced cells positively expressed cholinergic neuron's markers, and an acetylcholine secretion of the induced WJ-MSCs was significantly elevated. These results demonstrated that WJ-MSCs had capability to differentiate into cholinergic-like neurons. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Citation

Jun Liang, Shan Wu, Hui Zhao, Shu-Lei Li, Zhi-Xin Liu, Jiang Wu, Li Zhou. Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells derived from Wharton's jelly differentiate into cholinergic-like neurons in vitro. Neuroscience letters. 2013 Jan 4;532:59-63