Isolation and Characterization of Human Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Their Differentiation into Pdx-1⁺ Cells

Abstract

Background: Recent studies have focused on generating of insulin-producing cells (IPCs) from pluripotent stem cells. Producing of precursor's population with pancreatic endoderm properties is a challenging issue in front of regenerative medicine investigators. Previous studies have shown that during pancrease development in lower portion of foregut, signals from notochord suppress sonic hedgehog (Shh) expression and lead to increase expression of pancreatic duodenal homeobox-1 (Pdx-1) as a marker for pancreatic precursor's cells. Therefore, Shh repression is considered as a critical step in IPCs generation protocols. Objective: Isolation and characterization of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (HUC-MSCs) is the aim of current study. As well as the role of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) alone and in combination with cyclopamine are investigated in creating cells with Pdx-1 expression ability. Methods: Cells differentiate into definitive endoderm by adding activin A and wnt-3α into RPMI medium supplemented with for 3 days. At the second stage, the cells are washed with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). One group (group A) is treated with bFGF for 5 days. Second group (group B) is treated with cyclopamine-KADD for 5 days. Third group (group C) is treated with bFGF and cyclopamine-KAAD for 5 days. Forth group (group D) is untreated as control. Result: Our results show that bFGF and cyclopamine in combination induce more expression of Pdx-1 in HUC-MSCs.