Neural differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells from an Alzheimer disease mouse model

AIM：To estimate the neural differentiation efficiency of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from amyloid precursor protein (APP) transgenic mice and to investigate the correlation with Notch1 signaling and the autophagy activity during the differentiation. METHODS：The MSCs were divided into APP group (MSCs from APP transgenic mice) and WT group (MSCs from wild-type mice). MSCs were treated with β-mercaptoethanol as an inducer for differentiating into neurons. The levels of Aβ40 and Aβ42 were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits. The expression of neural cell-specific markers, neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP-2), was measured by immunocytochemistry and Western blotting. The expression levels of Notch1, Notch intracellular domain (NICD), Hes5, LC3 and p62 (a selective substrate of autophagy) were also detected by Western blotting. RESULTS：The neural differentiation capacity and the Aβ expression level of the MSCs in APP group were higher than those in WT group, and stronger inhibition of Notch1 signaling pathway in the MSCs from APP group was observed. However, the process of autophagy, which is essential for the survival and function of the neural cells, was impaired in the neural differentiated counterpart of the MSCs in APP group. CONCLUSION:Over-expression of APP might contribute to the high neural differentiation capacity of MSCs by inhibiting Notch1 signaling pathway in vitro. However, autophagy is impaired in the differentiated MSCs from APP transgenic mice.