Retinoic acid receptor beta mediates all-trans retinoic acid facilitation of mesenchymal stem cells neuronal differentiation.

Retinoic acid receptor beta mediates all-trans retinoic acid facilitation of mesenchymal stem cells neuronal differentiation. Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2013 Jan 11; Authors: Gong M, Bi Y, Jiang W, Zhang Y, Chen L, Hou N, Chen J, Li T Abstract All-trans retinoic acid plays an important role in nervous system development. However, the effects of all-trans retinoic acid on the neuronal differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells and the mechanisms through which this differentiation takes place are still poorly understood. Here, we investigated the biological effects of all-trans retinoic acid on the neuronal differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells and the signaling pathways that mediated these effects. We found that the neuronal differentiation efficiency of mesenchymal stem cells following all-trans retinoic acid pre-induction was greater and the axonal length was longer than was observed with mesenchymal stem cells that were not pre-induced. mRNA and protein levels of the neural-markers Nestin, NSE, MAP-2, Tau and Tuj1 were stronger in neural-like cells derived from all-trans retinoic acid-pretreated mesenchymal stem cells than in those not pre-induction. Interestingly, the neuronal excitability of differentiated neural-like cells exhibited the same patterns between these two groups. Clear expression of retinoic acid receptor alpha and gamma in mesenchymal stem cells was observed, while retinoic acid receptor beta was barely detected. However, r...
Source: The International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology - Category: Biochemistry Authors: Tags: Int J Biochem Cell Biol Source Type: research