Assess the Pluripotency of Caprine Umbilical Cord Wharton’s Jelly Mesenchymal Cells By RT-PCR Analysis of Early Transcription Factor Nanog

Objective- in the present study we investigated the isolation protocol, population doublingtime (pdt) and the expression of a pluripotential gene by rt-pcr analysis of earlytranscription factor nanog in caprine umbilical cord (cuc) wharton's jelly mesenchymalcells (wjmcs).design- experimental in vitro study.animals- four mix breed goat.procedures- cucs were collected from abattoir pregnant uteri and their wharton's jellies(wjs) were cut into 2×2 mm2 segments for explanting. 8-10 segments were explanted intoeach 35 mm culture dish. wj explants were removed 5 days after plating and the remainingadherent cells were cultured for another 5 days. isolated cells were histochemically assayedfor the presence of alkaline phosphatase (ap) activity. rt-pcr was used to assess thepresence of nanog mrna. besides, in this study the growth kinetic was evaluated for theisolated cells.results- cuc isolated cells displayed spindle-form and small round-shape with highnucleus. confluent cells formed colonies that indicated ap activity. initial seedingconcentration of 2 × 104 cuc-wjmcs resulted in shorter pdt compared to fetal fibroblasts(46.57 vs. 54.29 hours, respectively). expression of nanog was undetectable in 9th passage ofcuc-wjmcs. conclusion and clinical relevance- cuc contains an easily obtainable source ofmesenchymal cells which exhibit stem cells properties but probably these cells are notpluripotent.