A Novel Xenogeneic Co-Culture System to Examine Neuronal Differentiation Capability of Various Adult Human Stem Cells

Abstract

BackgroundTargeted differentiation of stem cells is mainly achieved by the sequential administration of defined growth factors and cytokines, although these approaches are quite artificial, cost-intensive and time-consuming. We now present a simple xenogeneic rat brain co-culture system which supports neuronal differentiation of adult human stem cells under more in vivo-like conditions.Methods and FindingsThis system was applied to well-characterized stem cell populations isolated from human skin, parotid gland and pancreas. In addition to general multi-lineage differentiation potential, these cells tend to differentiate spontaneously into neuronal cell types in vitro and are thus ideal candidates for the introduced co-culture system. Consequently, after two days of co-culture up to 12% of the cells showed neuronal morphology and expressed corresponding markers on the mRNA and protein level. Additionally, growth factors with the ability to induce neuronal differentiation in stem cells could be found in the media supernatants of the co-cultures.ConclusionsThe co-culture system described here is suitable for testing neuronal differentiation capability of numerous types of stem cells. Especially in the case of human cells, it may be of clinical relevance for future cell-based therapeutic applications.

Neuronal Differentiation Capability of Nasal Polyps of Chronic Rhinosinusitis

“…Due to this, we analyzed the media supernatants and detected bFGF in the rat brain only approaches, which has neurogenic properties (Komobuchi et al 2010). The nasal polyp cells themselves expressed IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-6 and were related to adult stem cells, which underlined the existence of stem cells in nasal polyps (Huynh et al 2011;Petschnik et al 2011;Ramalho-Santos et al 2002). Due to the use of FBS, factors which were already present in the culture media were excluded from the analysis.…”

“…Within this system, growth factors and cytokines from brain tissue and NP cells could pass the porous membrane of the insert, but no cells could cross. Nasal polyp cells cultured without the addition of rat brain biopsies serve as controls (Petschnik et al 2011). …”

“…The co-culture system is suitable for testing neuronal differentiation capability of numerous types of stem cells (Petschnik et al 2011). We performed qPCR and immunohistological analysis to evaluate the influence of co-cultured rat brain biopsies on the neuronal differentiation capability of nasal polyp cells.…”

Co-Culture Systems of Human Sweat Gland Derived Stem Cells and Peripheral Nerve Cells: Anin VitroApproach for Peripheral Nerve Regeneration

“…Human glandular tissues like pancreas, parotis or sweat glands are a source of adult stem cells with spontaneous multi-lineage differentiation potential [19,20,21]. Human sweat glands are an easy accessible source for autologous stem cells and therefore very promising for cellular therapies and support of regenerative processes.…”

“…The regenerative potential of hSGSCs was already proven in dermal wound healing where it promoted vascularisation [22]. Furthermore, the feasibility of targeted neuronal differentiation in a xenogenic co-culture system describes the clinical relevance of hSGSCs [20]. The regenerative effect of adult stem cells is frequently thought to be based on their differentiation potential into various cell types of the target tissue [23].…”