Evaluation of differentiation potential of menstrual blood-derived stem cells to cardiomyocytes in vitro

In recent decades, stem cell therapy has been introduced as a novel therapeutic approach for patients suffering from cardiac disorders. Recently, identification of menstrual blood-derived stem cells (MenSCs) as a unique source of stem cell with some characteristics as well as ease of access, high proliferative ability and renewability has created enormous promise for cell therapy.
In this study, differentiation ability of MenSCs into cardiomyocytes has been investigated. After MenSCs immunophenotyping, their differentiation into cardiomyocyte was investigated in the presence of 5-azacytidine and basic-fibroblast growth factor. Then, expression of the putative myogenic cells at mRNA and protein levels was determined by immunofluorescent staining and real-time quantitative PCR.
Based on flow cytometric analysis, the isolated MenSCs typically expressed mesenchymal stem cell markers like CD105, CD73, CD44 and CD166 in parallel to OCT-4 as an embryonic marker. The differentiated MenSCs expressed cardiomyocyte markers at mRNA/protein level. The myogenic cells differentiated from MenSCs were positive for Connexin-43 and troponin T2 (TNNT2) protein. The mRNAs of Connexin-43, Connexin-40, Alpha actinin, Tropomyosin1 and TNNT2 were highly expressed in the differentiated myogenic cells.
Based on our data, MenSCs are a unique cell population with differentiation ability into cells with characteristics commonly attributed to cardiomyocytes.