Background: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from human umbilical cord blood (hUCB) are unspecialized cells that have self-renewal capacity and can be differentiated into many specialized cell types.
Objectives: to investigate 1aboratory-based in vitro neuronal differentiation of hUCB-derived MSCs and to study their association with maternal and neonatal UCB factors.
Materials and methods: UCB samples were collected between January 2018 and January 2022. The mononuclear cells isolated from human UCB were differentiated into MSCs, and the growing MSCs were analysed by flow cytometry. These progenitor cells were further examined for their ability to undergo neuronal differentiation in the induction culture media and analysed by immune-cytochemical staining to detect neural marker nestin expression.
Results: Twenty of the 26 hUCB samples revealed MSC growth. The overall efficiency of MSC growth was 76.94%. The majority (76.94%) had a high yield of MSCs originating from samples taken from older mothers and from a 1arger sample volume. The MSCs were positive for the specific MSC marker CD105 and negative for CD34, and the differentiated hUCB derived MSCs that were differentiated into neuronal cells expressed nestin.
Conclusion: hUCB-derived MSCs possess inherited neural differentiation capacity. Our results suggest that hUCB-derived MSCs can be used for neural tissue regeneration and represent a promising approach for stem cell regenerative therapy for the repair of injured neurons and to offset the degenerative process of neurological diseases.