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Proliferative capacity of mesenchymal stem cells from human fetal bone marrow and their ability to differentiate into the derivative cell types of three embryonic germ layers

Wang Yuechun, Zhang Yuan

Institute of Hematology,Medical College,Jinan University.Guangzhou 510632,Guangdong

Abstract

Strong proliferative capacity and the ability to differentiate into the derivative cell types of three embryonic germ layers are the two important characteristics of embryonic stem cells. To study whether the mesenchymal stem cells from human fetal bone marrow (hfBM-MSCs) possess these embryonic stem cell-like biological characteristics, hfBM-MSCs were isolated from bone barrows and further purified according to the different adherence of different kinds of cells to the wall of culture flask. The cell cycle of hfBM-MSCs and MSCs-specific surface markers such as CD29, CD44, etc were identified using flow cytometry. The expression of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), the embryonic stem cell-specific antigens，such as Oct4 and SSEA-4 were detected with immunocytochemistry at the protein level and also tested by RT-PCR at the RNA level. Then, hfBM-MSCs were induced to differentiate toward neuron-like cells, adipose cells, and islet B cells under certain conditions. It is found that 92.3% passage-4 hfBM-MSCs and 96.1% passage-5 hfBM-MSCs were at G_(0)/G_(1) phase respectively. The hfBM-MSCs expressed CD44, CD106 and adhesion molecules CD29, but not antigens of hematopoietic cells CD34 and CD45, and almost not antigens related to graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), such as HLA-DR, CD40 and CD80. The hfBM-MSCs expressed the embryonic stem cell-specific antigens such as Oct4, SSEA-4, and also hTERT. Exposure of these cells to various inductive agents resulted in morphological changes towards neuron-like cells, adipose cells, and islet B cells and they were tested to be positive for related characteristic makers. These results suggest that there are plenty of MSCs in human fetal bone marrow, and hfBM-MSCs possess the embryonic stem cell-like biological characteristics, moreover, they have a lower immunogenic nature. Thus, the hfBM-MSCs provide an ideal source for tissue engineering and cellular therapeutics.

Key words: Fetus;Bone marrow;mesenchymal stem cells;embryonic stem cell

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Citing This Article：

Wang Yuechun, Zhang Yuan. Proliferative capacity of mesenchymal stem cells from human fetal bone marrow and their ability to differentiate into the derivative cell types of three embryonic germ layers. Acta Physiol Sin 2008; 60 (3): 425-430 (in Chinese with English abstract).