TGFβ1 contributes to cardiomyogenic-like differentiation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells

Abstract

Background: The majority of the protocols for cardiomyocyte differentiation of MSC use 5-azacytidine as an inducer. As transforming growth factor β1 and 5-azacytidine share similar target signaling pathways, we examined whether transforming growth factor β1 can play a role in cardiac differentiation process in human mesenchymal stem cell of bone marrow origin.

Methods: The differentiation protocol involving transforming growth factor β1 was compared with that of 5-azacytidine in these cells. The two differentiation regimes were compared using reverse transcriptase PCR, flow cytometry, and quantitative PCR.

Results: We observed that in both cases, acquired morphological features were similar. Protein and gene expression assays also indicated similar cardiac marker expression profile in both the differentiation conditions. Furthermore, transforming growth factor β1 and 5-azacytidine allowed the acquisition of comparable levels of cardiac cell like molecular characteristic as attested by evaluation of myosin light chain-2v expression.

Conclusion: In conclusion, we demonstrate that transforming growth factor β1 can play a similar role in cardiac differentiation process of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells.