Purification of Mouse Bone Marrow-Derived Stem Cells Promotes Ex Vivo Neuronal Differentiation

The main objective of this study is to test the potential of specific populations of mouse bone marrow-derived stem cells (BMSCs) to differentiate into the neuronal cell lineage Bone marrow of 33 mice was aspirated under general anesthesia. The collected marrows were analyzed for cell counts, compositions, and percentages of different stem cell types We used the Midi MACS magnetic separator to purify specific populations of stem cells from the aspirated bone marrow Cells were analyzed using flow cytometry We assessed the presence of stem cell antigen-1 (Sea-1(+)) and prommin-1(+) cells in the cellular fraction that was depleted of lineage-committed cells (lineage(-)). Both purified and nonpurified cells were cultured ex vivo using specific growth media with factors that drive the cells to differentiate into the neuroglial cell types Cells were then analyzed by flow cytometry for expression of specific neuronal markers Our results showed that there was an increase of Sea-1(+) and prommin-1(+) cells in the lineage- fraction over the unpurified BM After lineage depletion. the percentages of Sea-1(+) and prominin-1(+) cells increased from 4 9% and 2 6%, up to 76 190 and 59%, respectively Uwnpunfied mouse BM differentiated into fibroblasts. whereas Sea-1(+) cells were able to generate astrocytes Interestingly, purified prommin-1(+) cells were able to generate neuronal cells Purification of adult bone marrow-derived stem cells enhances their potentiality for differentiating into specific neuronal cell lineages