Assessment of the Neural-Like Cells Differentiation from Endometrial Stem Cells following Fluoxetine Treatment

Fluoxetine is a common antidepressant which selectively inhibits serotonin reuptake at synaptic level. Some research findings have proposed the effect this drug on neurogenesis, neuronal survival as well as proliferation of the neural progenitor cells. Endometrium is a part of uterus which harbors mesenchymal stem cells. This source of stem cells can be differentiated into neural cells which may potentially be used in treating many diseases. Given the above, this study was designed to assess the effect of fluoxetine on neural cells differentiation from endometrial stem cells. Endometrial stem cells obtained from stem cell banking were cultured in Dulbecco’s modified eagle’s medium (DMED) containing fetal bovine serum (FBS) in the presence of Retinoic Acid, fluoxetine and Retinoic Acid+fluoxetine for 10 days. To assess the differentiation of endometrial stem cells into neural-like cells, we used immunocytochemistry and RT-PCR. The viability of cells was assessed using the trypan blue test. Data analysis revealed that 61% of endometrial stem cells differentiated to neural-like cells. Moreover, the biopotency of neural-like cells on fluoxetine treatment was more pronounced across differentiation days. Based on our findings, fluoxetine was shown to be a suitable inducer for the differentiation of neural-like cells from endometrial stem cells.