Expression of neurotrophic factor genes by human adipose stem cells post-induction by deprenyl

Human adipose stem cells (hASCs) were introduced as appropriate candidate due to advantages like ease of isolation, in vitro expansion and lack of immune response. Deprenyl (Dep) was used to induce bone marrow stem cells into neuron-like cells. We investigated the Dep effect on neurotrophin genes expression in hASCs and their differentiation into neuron-like cells. The cells were isolated from small pieces of abdominal adipose tissue and subjected to flow cytometry to confirm purification. The osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation were identified. The proliferation rate and neurotrophin genes expression of treated cells were evaluated by MTT, TH immunostaining and RT-PCR. hASCs had positive response to CD44, CD73, CD90, CD105 markers and negative response to CD34 and CD45 markers and differentiated into adipocytes and osteocytes. Exposure to 10–7 M of Dep for 24 hours caused a significant increase of viable cells and BDNF, NTF-3 genes expression as compared to cultured cells in serum free medium and had no effect on the expression of NGF and GDNF genes. Based on our results, Dep is able to induce BDNF, NTF-3 and NTF-4 genes expression and neroun-like morphology in hASCs.