Effect of honey bee venom and RA on induction of neuronal differentiation of mouse embryonic carcinoma P19 cells

Mouse P19 embryonic carcinoma (EC) cells are pluripotent and can be differentiated into a population consisting largely of neurons and glia cells using a concentration of 510-7 M of retinoic acid (RA). Thus، P19 EC cells are a good model system to study events occurring during the critical phase of neuronal differentiation in vitro. Honey bee venom (BV) from consists of mellitin، phospholipase A2، apamin and several other bioactive substances. Studies have shown that mellitin and phospholipase A2، two major components of BV، play an important role in differentiation of neurons and enhance neurite outgrowth in PC12 cell line. The purpose of this experiment was to examine effects of bee venom and RA on the induction of neuronal differentiation in P19 cell line. The cells were seeded at a density of 3104 cells/ml in α-MEM containing 2. 5% FBS and 7. 5% calf serum، and incubated at 37°C in humidified atmosphere containing 5% CO2. Primary results obtained from morphological examination showed that six days after treatment with 510-7 M RA، P19 cells produced processes and gradually obtained neuronal phenotype until day 10 of culture and then all cells died on day11. P19 cells treated with 1، 3 μg/ml bee venom produced processes on day 6 and neurons appeared. Then they exceeded to total size until day 10 and produced elongated processes but all cells died on day 11. Using bee venom and RA together had the same but more pronounced differentiating results. It can be concluded that applying bee venom with RA have an additive effect on cell differentiation and proliferation.