CD29/CD184 expression analysis provides a signature for identification of neuronal like cells differentiated from PBMSCs

In vitro study was used as a helpful model to investigate the role of different growth factors in differentiation of stem cells. The aim of this study was to find an easy and robust method for confirmation of Peripheral Blood-Mesenchymal Stem Cells (PB-MSCs) differentiation into neuronal cells. A set of CD markers as well as neural markers were used to elucidate their differentiation. In the present study, PB-MSCs were isolated by density centrifugation. Isolated cells were divided into four groups: (i) untreated PB-MSCs as control cells, (ii) cells treated with 50 ng/ml Noggin [N50], (iii) cells treated with 75 ng/ml Noggin [N75], (iv) cells treated with 100 ng/ml Noggin [N100]. These cells were cultured for 14 days. Expression of CD24, CD29 and CD184 markers was evaluated by flow cytometry. Furthermore, the neural markers as well as BMP genes expression were analyzed by Real time PCR. Our in vitro studies demonstrated that Noggin had diverse effects on neural differentiation of PB-MSCs depending on the concentration. N75 treatment induced neuronal differentiation of PB-MSCs more strongly than N50 treatment. Furthermore, differentiation of PB-MSCs into neuronal lineage was inhibited by N100 treatment. Our result showed that exposure of PB-MSCs to Noggin with 75 ng/ml concentration was associated with changes in pattern of CD29/CD184 expression. The expression profile of CD29+/−/CD184− can be suggested as a robust signature for tracing differentiation of Peripheral Blood-Mesenchymal Stem Cells (PB-MSCs) into neuronal cells.