Diabetes mellitus (D.M) is a disease with a high and increasing
prevalence. Insulin-producing cells (IPCs) generated from
mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have shown immense potential for
therapy. This study aimed to compare the differentiation potential of 2
kinds of MSCs obtained from human bone marrow (BM), and
umbilical cord blood (UCB) into IPCs. In addition, their therapeutic
efficiency to control streptozotocin (STZ) – induced diabetic rats was
investigated. MSCs were isolated from human BM and UCB,
expanded and differentiated to IPCs. The Cells were evaluated by
flow cytometry analysis for MSCs markers, RT-PCR for insulin gene
expression and ELISA detection of C-peptide release. IPCS were
transplanted into the liver of diabetic rats and then evaluated by
weekly measurement of the fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels, and
detection of in vivo release of C-peptide. This study demonstrated that
FBG levels were reduced in diabetic rats transplanted with IPCs, but
in rats transplanted with UCB-derived cells were significantly lower
than in those transplanted with BM-derived cells. The amount of Cpeptide
released from transplanted IPCs derived from BM-MSCs and
UCB-MSCs was non-significantly different. The results indicate that
UCB- MSCs and BM-MSCs are promising stem cell sources for IPCs
that help in the development of a new strategy for treatment of D.M.