• Development and Reproduction
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.173-181
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• 2009

One of the most extensively studied populations of multipotent adult stem cells are mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). MSCs derived from the human umbilical cord vein (HUC-MSCs) are morphologically and immunophenotypically similar to MSCs isolated from bone marrow. HUC-MSCs are multipotent stem cells, differ from hematopoietic stem cells and can be differentiated into neural cells. Since neural tissue has limited intrinsic capacity of repair after injury, the identification of alternate sources of neural stem cells has broad clinical potential. We isolated mesenchymal-like stem cells from the human umbilical cord vein, and studied transdifferentiation-promoting conditions in neural cells. Dopaminergic neuronal differentiation of HUC-MSCs was also studied. Neural differentiation was induced by adding bFGF, EGF, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) in N2 medium and N2 supplement. The immunoreactive cells for $\beta$-tubulin III, a neuron-specific marker, GFAP, an astrocyte marker, or Gal-C, an oligodendrocyte marker, were found. HUC-MSCs treated with bFGF, SHH and FGF8 were differentiated into dopaminergic neurons that were immunopositive for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) antibody. HUC-MSCs treated with DMSO and BHA rapidly showed the morphology of multipolar neurons. Both immunocytochemistry and RT-PCR analysis indicated that the expression of a number of neural markers including NeuroD1, $\beta$-tubulin III, GFAP and nestin was markedly elevated during this acute differentiation. While the stem cell markers such as SCF, C-kit, and Stat-3 were not expressed after neural differentiation, we confirmed the differentiation of dopaminergic neurons by TH/$\beta$-tubulin III positive cells. In conclusion, HUC-MSCs can be differentiated into dopaminergic neurons and these findings suggest that HUC-MSCs are alternative cell source of therapeutic treatment for neurodegenerative diseases.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.343-353
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• 2012

Objectives: This aim of this study was to effectively isolate mesenchymal stem cells (hSMSCs) from human submandibular skin tissues (termed hSMSCs) and evaluate their characteristics. These hSMSCs were then chemically induced to the neuronal lineage and analyzed for their neurogenic characteristics in vitro. Materials and Methods: Submandibular skin tissues were harvested from four adult patients and cultured in stem cell media. Isolated hSMSCs were evaluated for their multipotency and other stem cell characteristics. These cells were differentiated into neuronal cells with a chemical induction protocol. During the neuronal induction of hSMSCs, morphological changes and the expression of neuron-specific proteins (by fluorescence-activated cell sorting [FACS]) were evaluated. Results: The hSMSCs showed plate-adherence, fibroblast-like growth, expression of the stem-cell transcription factors Oct 4 and Nanog, and positive staining for mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) marker proteins (CD29, CD44, CD90, CD105, and vimentin) and a neural precursor marker (nestin). Moreover, the hSMSCs in this study were successfully differentiated into multiple mesenchymal lineages, including osteocytes, adipocytes, and chondrocytes. Neuron-like cell morphology and various neural markers were highly visible six hours after the neuronal induction of hSMSCs, but their neuron-like characteristics disappeared over time (24-48 hrs). Interestingly, when the chemical induction medium was changed to Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM) supplemented with fetal bovine serum (FBS), the differentiated cells returned to their hSMSC morphology, and their cell number increased. These results indicate that chemically induced neuron-like cells should not be considered true nerve cells. Conclusion: Isolated hSMSCs have MSC characteristics and express a neural precursor marker, suggesting that human skin is a source of stem cells. However, the in vitro chemical neuronal induction of hSMSC does not produce long-lasting nerve cells and more studies are required before their use in nerve-tissue transplants.

• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.65-72
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• 2012

Purpose: To evaluate the differentiation potential of stem cells and their immunophenotype from 3 different sources. Methods: Our study involved three stem cell sources-subacromial bursal tissue, bone marrow, and umbilical cord blood. We obtained the subacromial bursal tissue and bone marrow from the patients undergoing shoulder surgery. After collecting the sample, we applied specific induction media for neurogenic, adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation. Also, flow-cytometry analysis was done to reveal the cell surface antigens. Results: We obtained 100% (8 cases) neural and adipogenic differentiation, but 62.5% (5 of 8 cases) osseous differentiation among the subacromial bursal tissue group. Bone marrow derived cells showed 100% neural (6 cases) and adipogenic (5 cases) differentiation, but 80% (4 of 5 cases) osseous differentiation. Umbilical cord blood derived cells revealed 97% (65 of 67 cases) neural, 53.7% (29 of 54 cases) adipogenic and 68.4% (39 of 57 cases) osseous differentiation. Immunophenotype analysis revealed that surface markers of bone marrow, subacromial bursal cell and umbilical cord blood derived mesenchymal stem cells are different from each other. Conclusions: Mesenchymal stem cells are potential agents in regenerative medicine and are characterized by expression of surface markers and by their differentiation potential. Our study with stem cells from subacromial bursal tissue, bone marrow and umbilical cord discovered that each stem cell has unique differentiation potential and function based on its origin. Various stem cells show multi-lineage differentiations in vitro which can be correlated to in vivo conditions.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.37 no.12
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• pp.907-911
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• 2014

The function of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as second messengers in cell differentiation has been demonstrated only for a limited number of cell types. Here, we used a well-established protocol for BMP2-induced neuronal differentiation of neural crest stem cells (NCSCs) to examine the function of BMP2-induced ROS during the process. We first show that BMP2 indeed induces ROS generation in NCSCs and that blocking ROS generation by pretreatment of cells with diphenyleneiodonium (DPI) as NADPH oxidase (Nox) inhibitor inhibits neuronal differentiation. Among the ROS-generating Nox isozymes, only Nox4 was expressed at a detectable level in NCSCs. Nox4 appears to be critical for survival of NCSCs at least in vitro as down-regulation by RNA interference led to apoptotic response from NCSCs. Interestingly, development of neural crest-derived peripheral neural structures in Nox4-/- mouse appears to be grossly normal, although Nox4-/- embryos were born at a sub-Mendelian ratio and showed delayed over-all development. Specifically, cranial and dorsal root ganglia, derived from NCSCs, were clearly present in Nox4-/- embryo at embryonic days (E) 9.5 and 10.5. These results suggest that Nox4-mediated ROS generation likely plays important role in fate determination and differentiation of NCSCs, but other Nox isozymes play redundant function during embryogenesis.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.105-110
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• 2008

The endogenous retrovirus-like elements (HERVs) found on several human chromosomes are somehow involved in gene regulation, especially during the transcription level. HERV-H, located on chromosome Xp22, may regulate gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR) in connection with diverse diseases. By suppression subtractive hybridization screen on SV40-immortalized lung fibroblast (WI-38 VA-13), we discovered that expression of HERV-HX2, a clustered HERV-H sequence on chromosome X, was upregulated in immortalized lung cells, compared to that of normal cells. Expression of HERV-HX2 was then analyzed in various cell lines, including normal somatic cells, cancer cells, SV40-immortalized cells, and undifferentiated and differentiated human embryonic stem cells. Expression of HERV-HX2 was specifically upregulated in continuously-dividing cells, such as cancer cells and SV40-immortalized cells. Especially, HERV-HX2 in HeLa cells was highly upregulated during the S phase of the cell cycle. Similar results were obtained in hES cells, in which undifferentiated cells expressed more HERV-HX2 mRNA than differentiated hES cells, including neural precursor and endothelial progenitor cells. Taken together, our results suggest that HERV-HX2 is upregulated in cancer cells and undifferentiated hES cells, whereas downregulated as differentiation progress. Therefore, we assume that HERV-HX2 may playa role on proliferation of cancer cells as well as differentiation of hES cells in the transcriptional level.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.87-95
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• 2008

Neural stem/precursor derived from pluripotent human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) has considerable therapeutic potential due to their ability to generate various neural cells which can be used in cell-replacement therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. However, production of neural cells from hESCs remains technically very difficult. Understanding neural-tube like rosette characteristic neural precursor cells from hESCs may provide useful information to increase the efficiency of hESC neural differentiation. Generally, neural rosettes were derived from differentiating hEBs in attached culture system, however this is time-consuming and complicated. Here, we examined if neural rosettes could be formed in suspension culture system by bypassing attachment requirement. First, we tested whether the size of hESC clumps affected the formation of human embryonic bodies (hEBs) and neural differentiation. We confirmed that hEBs derived from $500{\times}500\;{\mu}m$ square sized hESC clumps were effectively differentiated into neural lineage than those of the other sizes. To induce the rosette formation, regular size hEBs were derived by incubation of hESC clumps($500{\times}500\;{\mu}m$) in EB medium for 1 wk in a suspended condition on low attachment culture dish and further incubated for additional $1{\sim}2$ wks in neuroectodermal sphere(NES)-culture medium. We observed the neural tube-like rosette structure from hEBs after $7{\sim}10$ days of differentiation. Their identity as a neural precursor cells was assessed by measuring their expressions of neural precursor markers(Vimentin, Nestin, MSI1, MSI2, Prominin-1, Pax6, Sox1, N-cadherin, Otx2, and Tuj1) by RT-PCR and immunofluorescence staining. We also confirmed that neural rosettes could be terminally differentiated into mature neural cell types by additional incubation for $2{\sim}6$ wks with NES medium without growth factors. Neuronal(Tuj1, MAP2, GABA) and glial($S100{\beta}$ and GFAP) markers were highly expressed after $2{\sim}3$ and 4 wks of incubation, respectively. Expression of oligodendrocyte markers O1 and CNPase was significantly increased after $5{\sim}6$ wks of incubation. Our results demonstrate that rosette forming neural precursor cells could be successfully derived from suspension culture system and that will not only help us understand the neural differentiation process of hESCs but also simplify the derivation process of neural precursors from hESCs.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.195-207
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• 2006

Stem cells are the primordial, initial cells which usually divide asymmetrically giving rise to on the one hand self-renewals and on the other hand progenitor cells with potential for differentiation. Zygote (fertilized egg), with totipotency, deserves the top-ranking stem cell - he totipotent stem cell (TSC). Both the ICM (inner cell mass) taken from the 6 days-old human blastocyst and ESC (embryonic stem cell) derived from the in vitro cultured ICM have slightly less potency for differentiation than the zygote, and are termed pluripotent stem cells. Stem cells in the tissues and organs of fetus, infant, and adult have highly reduced potency and committed to produce only progenitor cells for particular tissues. These tissue-specific stem cells are called multipotent stem cells. These tissue-specific/committed multipotent stem cells, when placed in altered environment other than their original niche, can yield cells characteristic of the altered environment. These findings are certainly of potential interest from the clinical, therapeutic perspective. The controversial terminology 'somatic stem cell plasticity' coined by the stem cell community seems to have been proved true. Followings are some of the recent knowledges related to the stem cell. Just as the tissues of our body have their own multipotent stem cells, cancerous tumor has undifferentiated cells known as cancer stem cell (CSC). Each time CSC cleaves, it makes two daughter cells with different fate. One is endowed with immortality, the remarkable ability to divide indefinitely, while the other progeny cell divides occasionally but lives forever. In the cancer tumor, CSC is minority being as few as 3-5% of the tumor mass but it is the culprit behind the tumor-malignancy, metastasis, and recurrence of cancer. CSC is like a master print. As long as the original exists, copies can be made and the disease can persist. If the CSC is destroyed, cancer tumor can't grow. In the decades-long cancer therapy, efforts were focused on the reducing of the bulk of cancerous growth. How cancer therapy is changing to destroy the origin of tumor, the CSC. The next generation of treatments should be to recognize and target the root cause of cancerous growth, the CSC, rather than the reducing of the bulk of tumor, Now the strategy is to find a way to identify and isolate the stem cells. The surfaces of normal as well as the cancer stem cells are studded with proteins. In leukaemia stem cell, for example, protein CD 34 is identified. In the new treatment of cancer disease it is needed to look for protein unique to the CSC. Blocking the stem cell's source of nutrients might be another effective strategy. The mystery of sternness of stem cells has begun to be deciphered. ESC can replicate indefinitely and yet retains the potential to turn into any kind of differentiated cells. Polycomb group protein such as Suz 12 repress most of the regulatory genes which, activated, are turned to be developmental genes. These protein molecules keep the ESC in an undifferentiated state. Many of the regulator genes silenced by polycomb proteins are also occupied by such ESC transcription factors as Oct 4, Sox 2, and Nanog. Both polycomb and transcription factor proteins seem to cooperate to keep the ESC in an undifferentiated state, pluripotent, and self-renewable. A normal prion protein (PrP) is found throughout the body from blood to the brain. Prion diseases such as mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) are caused when a normal prion protein misfolds to give rise to PrP$^{SC}$ and assault brain tissue. Why has human body kept such a deadly and enigmatic protein? Although our body has preserved the prion protein, prion diseases are of rare occurrence. Deadly prion diseases have been intensively studied, but normal prion problems are not. Very few facts on the benefit of prion proteins have been known so far. It was found that PrP was hugely expressed on the stem cell surface of bone marrow and on the cells of neural progenitor, PrP seems to have some function in cell maturation and facilitate the division of stem cells and their self-renewal. PrP also might help guide the decision of neural progenitor cell to become a neuron.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.221-226
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• 2007

Embryonic stem (ES) cells are known to have an infinite proliferation and pluripotency that are associated with complex processes. The objective of this study was to examine expression of genes differentially regulated during differentiation of human ES cells by suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH). Human ES cells were induced to differentiate into neural precursor cells via embryoid body. Neural precursor cells were isolated physically based on morphological criteria. Immunocytochemical analysis showed expression of pax6 in neural precursor cells, confirming that the isolated cells were neural precursor cells. Undifferentiated human ES cells and neural precursor cells were subject to the SSH. TPX2 (Targeting Protein for Xklp2 (Xenopus centrosomal kinesin-like protein 2)) was identified, cloned and analyzed during differentiation of human ES cells into neural lineages. Expression of TPX2 was gradually down-regulated in embryoid bodies and neural precursor cells relative to undifferentiated ES cells. Targeting Protein for Xklp2 has been shown to be involved in cell division by interaction with microtubule development in cancer cells. Taken together, result of this study suggests that TPX2 may be involved in proliferation and differentiation of human ES cells.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.551-571
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• 2020

Nuclear receptor-related 1 (Nurr1) protein has been identified as an obligatory transcription factor in midbrain dopaminergic neurogenesis, but the global set of human NURR1 target genes remains unexplored. Here, we identified direct gene targets of NURR1 by analyzing genome-wide differential expression of NURR1 together with NURR1 consensus sites in three human neural stem cell (hNSC) lines. Microarray data were validated by quantitative PCR in hNSCs and mouse embryonic brains and through comparison to published human data, including genome-wide association study hits and the BioGPS gene expression atlas. Our analysis identified ~40 NURR1 direct target genes, many of them involved in essential protein modules such as synapse formation, neuronal cell migration during brain development, and cell cycle progression and DNA replication. Specifically, expression of genes related to synapse formation and neuronal cell migration correlated tightly with NURR1 expression, whereas cell cycle progression correlated negatively with it, precisely recapitulating midbrain dopaminergic development. Overall, this systematic examination of NURR1-controlled regulatory networks provides important insights into this protein's biological functions in dopamine-based neurogenesis.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.59-64
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• 2008

This study was designed to investigate the changes in the properties of the neuronal setm cells or progenitor cells associated with age-related decline in neurogenesis of the hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG). Active whole cells cycle marker Ki67 (a marker of whole cell cycle)-positive and S phase marker bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU)-positive. Neural stem cells gradually were reduced in the hippocampal subgranular zone (SGZ) in an age-dependant manner after birth (from P1 month to P1 year). The ratio of BrdUpositivecells/Ki67-positive cells was gradually enhanced in an age-dependent manner. The ratio of Ki67-positive cells/accu-mulating BrdU-positive cells at 3 hrs after BrdU injection was injected once a day for consecutive 5 days gradually decreased during ageing. TUNEL- and caspase 3 (apoptotic terminal caspase)-positive cells gradually decreased in the dentate SGZ during ageing and immunohistochemical findings of glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP) were not changed during ageing. NeuN, a marker of mature neural cells, and BrdU-double positive cells gradually decreased in an age-dependent manner but differentiating ratio and survival rate of cells were not changed at 4 wks after BrdU injection once a day for consecutive 5 days. The number of BrdU-positive cells migrated from the hippocampal SGZ into granular layer and its migration speed was gradually declined during ageing. These results suggest that the adult neurogenesis in the mouse hippocampal DG gradually decrease through reducing proliferation of neural stem cells accompanying with cells cycle change and reduced cells migration rather than changes of differentiation.