Park Hyo Eun, Kim Donghee, Koh Hyun Sook, Cho Sungbo, Sung Jung-Suk, Kim Jae Young
Department of Biological Science, Gachon University of Medicine and Science, Incheon 406-799, Republic of Korea.
J Biomed Biotechnol. 2011;2011:485173. doi: 10.1155/2011/485173. Epub 2011 May 31.
Stem cells are useful for cell replacement therapy. Stem cell differentiation must be monitored thoroughly and precisely prior to transplantation. In this study we evaluated the usefulness of electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) for in vitro real-time monitoring of neural differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). We cultured hMSCs in neural differentiation media (NDM) for 6 days and examined the time-course of impedance changes with an ECIS array. We also monitored the expression of markers for neural differentiation, total cell count, and cell cycle profiles. Cellular expression of neuron and oligodendrocyte markers increased. The resistance value of cells cultured in NDM was automatically measured in real-time and found to increase much more slowly over time compared to cells cultured in non-differentiation media. The relatively slow resistance changes observed in differentiating MSCs were determined to be due to their lower growth capacity achieved by induction of cell cycle arrest in G0/G1. Overall results suggest that the relatively slow change in resistance values measured by ECIS method can be used as a parameter for slowly growing neural-differentiating cells. However, to enhance the competence of ECIS for in vitro real-time monitoring of neural differentiation of MSCs, more elaborate studies are needed.
干细胞对细胞替代疗法很有用。在移植前，必须对干细胞分化进行全面而精确的监测。在本研究中，我们评估了电细胞基质阻抗传感（ECIS）用于体外实时监测人间充质干细胞（hMSCs）神经分化的效用。我们将hMSCs在神经分化培养基（NDM）中培养6天，并用ECIS阵列检测阻抗变化的时间进程。我们还监测了神经分化标志物的表达、总细胞计数和细胞周期谱。神经元和少突胶质细胞标志物的细胞表达增加。实时自动测量在NDM中培养的细胞的电阻值，发现与在非分化培养基中培养的细胞相比，其随时间的增加要慢得多。在分化的间充质干细胞中观察到的相对缓慢的电阻变化被确定是由于在G0/G1期诱导细胞周期停滞而导致其生长能力降低。总体结果表明，通过ECIS方法测量的电阻值相对缓慢的变化可作为缓慢生长的神经分化细胞的一个参数。然而，为了提高ECIS在体外实时监测间充质干细胞神经分化方面的能力，还需要更深入的研究。
