Iman Razeghian Jahromi - Cardiovascular Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Davood Mehrabani - Stem Cells Technology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Ali Mohammadi - Division of Biotechnology, Department of Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
Mohammad Mahdi Ghahramani Seno - Division of Biotechnology, Department of Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
Mehdi Dianatpour - Stem Cells Technology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Shahrokh Zare - Stem Cells Technology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Amin Tamadon - Stem Cells Technology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

Objective(s): Nowadays much effort is being invested in order to diagnose the mechanisms involved in neural differentiation. By clarifying this, making desired neural cells in vitro and applying them into diverse neurological disorders suffered from neural cell malfunctions could be a feasible choice. Thus, the present study assessed the capability of fetal brain extract (FBE) to induce rat bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) toward neural cells. Materials and Methods: For this purpose, BM-MSCs were collected from rats and cultured and their mesenchymal properties were confirmed. After exposure of the BM-MSCs to fetal brain extract, the cells were evaluated and harvested at days ۳ and ۷ after treatment. Results: The BM-MSCs that were exposed to FBE changed their appearance dramatically from spindle shape to cells with dendrite-like processes. Those neural like processes were absent in the control group. In addition, a neural specific marker, vimentin, was expressed significantly in the treatment group but not in the negative control group. Conclusion: This study presented the FBE as a natural neural differentiation agent, which probably has required factors for making neurons. In addition, vimentin overexpression was observed in the treated group which confirms neuron-like cell differentiation of BM-MSCs after induction.

Bone marrow-mesenchymal- stem cells, Differentiation, Fetal brain extract, Neural cell, Vimentin