Vol.30 No.3 (2008 June): 383-386

Preliminary Study on the Induction of Umbilical Cord Blood-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells into Pancreatic Islet β-like Cells in Vitro

Zuo-Hua Chi, Yan Lu¹, Yuan Zhang^1*

(Department of Hematology, the First Affiliated Hospital, Medical College, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou 510310, China; ¹Institute of Hematology, Medical College of Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China)

Abstract Mesenchymal stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood were induced with epidermal growth factor (EGF), β-mercaptoethanol, high concentration of glucose, activin A and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF). Insulin in the treated cells was examined by immunofluorescence. In addition, the quantity of insulin secretion and glucose-stimulated insulin release were examined by chemiluminescence immunoassay. Results demonstrated that most of the cells exhibited the change of morphology and produced islet-like cell clusters. Immunofluorescence assay showed insulin positive expression in the induced cells. In addition, chemiluminescence immunoassay demonstrated that induced cells had the reaction to the stimulation of high glucose. Therefore MSCs derived from umbilical cord blood have the potential to be differentiated into islet β-like cells in vitro.

Key words umbilical cord blood; mesenchymal stem cells; differentiation; islet; diabetes

Received: October 15, 2007 Accepted: January 14, 2008
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.0670902), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (No.06300546) and the Doctor Research Foundation of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University (No.2006LCY03)
*Corresponding author. Tel: 86-20-85226787, E-mail: tzyuan@jnu.edu.cn