Development of the central nervous system (CNS) occurs normally in mammalian fetus despite lower temperature in the brain region than in the heart. To investigate the effects of temperature niche on the neural differentiation of stem cells in vitro, P19 embryonic carcinoma (EC) stem cells and N2a neuroblastoma stem cells were induced to undergo neural differentiation by retinoic acid and LiCl, respectively. The cells were analyzed for the expression of neural marker genes during 12 days differentiation. Although there were Map2 and NCAM expressions in both groups, no clear difference was found. Similarly, expression patterns of Tuj1 and NF-M were not different in both groups, showing more intensive staining patterns at day 12 than those at days 4 and 8, respectively. However, more cells expressed GFAP markedly at day 12 in 37℃ group. There was little expression of the above markers in N2a cells during differentiation except for Ngn2 and Tuj1. It was found that Ngn2 was expressed more intensely at days 6 and 9 in 33℃ group. Tuj1 expression showed a similar pattern to those of P19 EC cells. RT-PCR analysis also showed that the expressed transcripts did not quite different in both groups, although they were different among the days of differentiation. Thus, it appears that neural differentiation occurs normally with a slight delay and probably less cell death in the cells at 33℃ than that at 37℃.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) has been reported as multipotent progenitor cells that can be expanded rapidly in vitro and differentiated into multiple mesodermal cell type. Human MSCs have been reported to be associated with neural differentiation especially in the cholinergic phenotype in several neural system. In this study, We investigated the ability of MSCs derived human aipose tissue to differentiation into neural cells expressing Islet-1 and further differentiates into cholinergic neurons in cholinergic differentiation media. Immunocytochemistry was performed to detect the expression of Islet-1 and demonstrate characteristic of neurons and cholinergic neurons. Islet-1 was massively detected in the induction stage. Following cholinergic differentiation from Islet-1-expressing MSCs, Cholinergic neuron marker ChAT was higly expressed. Also we examined the neuroprotective effects and neural differentiation of transplanted human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AT-MSCs) in ischemic stroke. For transplantation, after 3days after MCAO. animal were divided into 2 group: Group A : injected phosphate buffered saline (PBS;5 ㎕ n=10), Group B: transplanted AT-MSCs (5×105 cells, n=10). Each animal received an injection into the right penumbra region (from bregma : AP;－1.3 ㎜, ML;－4.0 ㎜, DV;－5.9 ㎜). In all animals, behavior test were performed at 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 days after MCAO, that was conducted by investigators who were blined to the experimental groups. mNSS test demonstrated that motor, sensory, and balance behavior were impaired after MCAO ischemic insult. Ischemic rats that received AT-MSCs exhibited significantly improved functional performance compared with PBS injected animals and histological analysis revealed that transplanted AT-MSCs expressed marker for neuron. These results suggest that AT-MSCs can be differentiated into neuron especially in cholinergic neuron and may be a potential source of treatment for neurodegenerative disease such as stroke.

Mesenchymal stem cells constitute an potential cellular source to promote brain regeneration with Parkinson's disease. Mesenchymal stem cells have significant advantages over other stem cell types and greater potential for immediate clinical application. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether hMSCs from the human adipose tissue could be induced to differentiate into dopaminergic cells and to assess the developmental potential of hMSC for selectively replacing the midbrain dopamine neurons lost in Parkinson's disease in vitro and in vivo. MSCs were cultured under conditions that promote differentiation of dopaminergic neuron. Using media that include SHH, FGF8, and GDNF. the MSCs were induced in vitro to become dopaminergic neurons. The expressions of the LIM homeobox transcription factor 1, alpha (Lmx1a), tyrosine hydroxylase(TH) proteins were determined by immunofluorescence. Lmx1a has been shown sufficient to confer neurogenic activity on mesencephalic floor plate cells and to determine a mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons fate. This result suggests that hMSCs have the ability to differfentiate into dopaminergic neurons. hMSCs were then transplanted into the striatal in a rat model of Parkinson's disease. The rats were unilaterally lesioned in the substantia nigra with 6-hydroxydopamine and were tested for rotational apomorphine-induced behavior. Following differentiation of dopaminergic neuron, cells displayed dopaminergic morphology and that they expressed dopaminergic marks genes. Finally transplantation of hMSCs into the striatal of Parkinsonian rats resulted in improvement of their behavioral deficits by apomorphine-induced rotational behavior. The hMSCs transplanted rats were proved to be better than compared with the transplantation of PBS. Immunohistochemical analysis of grafted brains revealed that abundant hMSCs survived from the grafts and some of them displayed dopaminergic marks. Our results indicate that hMSC may serve as a good cell source for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and have high potential for being used in multiple applications. This cellular approach might become a restorative therapy in Parkinson's disease.

최근 골수와 혈액으로 유래된 중간엽 줄기세포와 비슷한 능력을 가지는 것으로 알려진 지방 유래 중간엽줄기세포가 새로운 세포 치료제로 떠오르고 있다. 하지만 줄기세포를 이용하여 치료하려는 질병은 나이가 들어감에 따라 발병하는 퇴행성 질환들이 대부분인데, 노화가 진행됨에 따라 줄기세포의 능력이 차이가 있다고 알려져 있다. 이에 본 연구에서는 노화가 일어남에 따라 발생되는 신경성 질환을 자가 유래 지방 중간엽 줄기세포를 이용하여 치료함에 있어서 노화가 진행됨에

인간 제대혈 세포는 조혈모세포, 중간엽 줄기세포와내피전구세포를 풍부하게 포함하고 있다. 인간 제대혈 속의 중간엽 줄기세포는 조혈모세포와는 달리 다능성 줄기세포이며 신경세포로 분화할 수 있는 잠재성을 가지고 있다. 본 연구에서는 세포배양을 통해 제대혈의 중간엽 줄기세포를 신경세포와 콜린성 신경세포로 분화를 유도하였다. 중간엽 줄기세포를 신경세포로 분화시키기 위해 배양액에 dimethyl sulphoxide(DMSO)와 butylated hydroxyani