Effects of Estrogen on the Expression of Neural Markers in Differentiated Adipose-Derived Stem Cells

Over the past decade, researchers have used the existing knowledge about pathways messaging protocols to successfully stimulate stem cells to generate neurons. Due to the ease of access to adipose tissue-obtained stem cells rather than other sources, whereas estrogen factor could be used to improve neural differentiation, antilogous transplantation of differentiated neurons would be widely used for certain degenerative neurological diseases such as Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injuries. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of estrogen on expression of microtubule-associated protein-2 (MAP2), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and Nestin markers. After the isolation of stem cells from adipose tissue, the neural induction was carried out through neurosphere construction; then, final differentiation of the cells was performed. Neurosphere-singed cell were transferred to neural induction medium (control group). In the estrogen-treated group, estrogen was added to the culture medium until the end of the day of distinction. Then, evaluation of the expression of neural markers, was performed using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique. In addition, MTT assay [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] was performed to assess cell viability. The mean expression of GFAP and Nestin markers were down regulated in treated group compared to controls (P < 0.05). The difference between the mean of MAP2 expression was not significant between the two groups. In addition, the difference between the mean of cell viability was not significant between two groups, too. In this study, we found that estrogen can decrease the expression of neuronal markers. However, to determine the effect of estrogen on neurogenic differentiation of stem cells, next studies should be done broader using other precise techniques.