Murine and Chinese cobra venom-derived nerve growth factor stimulate chondrogenic differentiation of BMSCs in vitro: A comparative study

Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-based therapy has been commonly used in cartilage reconstruction, due to its self-renewing ability and multi-differentiation potential. Nerve growth factor (NGF) from cobra venom has been reported to regulate chondrogenesis of bone-derived MSCs (BMSCs) and chondrocyte metabolism. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine whether other sources of NGF behave in the same manner as NGF from natural venom. The present study compared the effects of NGF from two sources, the commercially purchased recombinant murine β-NGF (mNGF) and cobra venom-derived NGF (cvNGF), on chondrogenesis of BMSCs by performing hematoxylin and eosin and fluorescein diacetate/propidium iodide staining, DNA and glycosaminoglycan quantization and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction to investigate cell morphology, viability, proliferation, glycosaminoglycan synthesis and cartilage-specific gene expression. The results demonstrated that cvNGF significantly accelerated cell proliferation and upregulated the expression of cartilage-specific genes, including aggrecan, SRY-box 9 and collagen type II α1 chain. Conversely, cvNGF reduced the expression levels of collagen type I α1 chain (a fibrocartilage marker), runt-related transcription factor 2 and enolase 2 compared with in the mNGF and control groups. In addition, Chinese cobra venom, which is the main resource of cvNGF, is abundant and inexpensive, thus greatly decreasing the cost. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that cvNGF may be considered a potential growth factor for inducing chondrogenic differentiation of BMSCs.