Neural Differentiation of Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Applicability for Inner Ear Therapy

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Regeneration or replacement of damaged hair cells and neurons in the cochlea might be an ideal treatment for sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), derived from the bone marrow of rats, could differentiate into auditory hair cells and neurons. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The centrifuge gradient method was used to isolate MSCs from the bone marrow of rats. To confirm whether bone marrow-derived MSCs can differentiate into neuronal cells, culture medium with glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor and neurotrophin-3 for 14 days. In addition, immunofluorescence staining and RT-PCR were performed for characterization of the neurospheres and differentiated cells from 7 and 14 day cultures. RESULTS: The results showed that MSCs could differentiate into neuron-positive and hair cell-positive cells, using different compositions of growth factors. And RT-PCR result was identified high or low of gene expression all these differentiated cells. CONCLUSIONS: Rat bone marrow-derived MSCs differentiated into neuronal progenitor cells. These cells might be useful for the treatment of SNHL.