Differentiation of neural stem cells into Schwann-like cells in vitro

Neural stem cells (NSCs) are multipotent stem cells that have the potential to differentiate into different cells of the neural lineage like neurons astrocytes and oligodendrocytes In the current work we explored whether NSCs could be differentiated into functional Schwann like cells which has not been investigated up to date NSCs were harvested from the hippocampus of rats and identified by single cell cloning and immunofluorescence staining Then NSCs were treated with DMEM/F12 supplemented with forskolin heregulin bFGF PDGF-AA and retinoic acid (RA) Differentiated NSCs (dNSCs) exhibited a spindle-like morphology similar to Schwann cells and expressed the ghat markers p75 and S100 We also found that dNSCs could enhance neurite outgrowth when co-cultured with NG108-15 cells These results indicated that NSCs derived from hippocampus of rats could differentiate into Schwann-like cells with morphological phenotypic and functional similarities (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc All rights reserved