Investigation of the effect of α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone on proliferation and early stages of differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells.

We have studied the influence of α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH) on proliferation and early stages of differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSc). We have demonstrated that α-MSH receptor genes are expressed in undifferentiated iPSc. The expression levels of MCR1, MCR2, and MCR3 increased at the embryoid body (EB) formation stage. The formation of neural progenitors was accompanied by elevation of MCR2, MCR3, and MCR4 expression. α-MSH had no effect on EB generation and iPSc proliferation at concentrations ranging from 1 nM to 10 μM. At the same time, α-MSH increased the generation of neural rosettes in human iPSc cultures more than twice.