Apoptosis of Rat Adipose-Derived Stem Cellsduring Transdifferentiation to Schwann-LikeCell

Background: adipose-derived stem cells (adscs) are a populationof pluripotent cells used for tissue engineering purposes.the main purpose of the present study was to transdifferentiatethe adscs to schwann-like cells and to determine the intensityof apoptosis in adscs during the transdifferentiation process.methods: adscs were isolated from the inguinal adiposetissue of adult rats and the identity of the undifferentiatedadscs was confirmed by the detection of specific cells surfacemarkers. the adscs were transdifferentiated by sequentialadministration of beta mercaptoethanol, all-trans retinoicacid and a mixture of forskolin, beta fibroblast growth factor,platelet derived growth factor and hergulin. the immunocytochemicalproperties of transdifferentiated schwann-like cellswere examined at specified time point. rt-pcr was used toinvestigate the gene expression of the undifferentiated andtransdifferentiated adscs. cell apoptosis was assessed withannexin/propidium iodide staining and 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (mtt) assay.results: expression of schwann cell marker s100 was determinedby immunocytochemical staining. rt-pcr analysesrevealed that the induced adscs exhibited schwann cellspecificmarkers such as s-100, p75, and glial fibrillary acidicprotein on the 14th day. mtt assay and flow cytometry studiesshowed that of the total adscs in the differentiation medium,50% of the cells died by apoptosis, but the remainingcell population remained strongly attached to the substrate andcontinued to differentiate.conclusion: adscs could differentiate to schwann-like cells interms of morphology and phenotype. an increased cell death ratewas noted and the principle mode of cell death was apoptosis.