Objective: To investigate the effect of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) combined with Dezawa's method on the differentiation of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) into schwann-like cells.
Results: Compared to the Dezawa's method, schwann-like cells obtained from our modified method were longer and thinner and exhibited a typical bipolar or tripolar shape. These cells had a higher mRNA expression of S100 and myelin protein zero (P0), about 1.7- and 2.5-fold respectively, while the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) mRNA level was decreased about 92 %. No significant difference in peripheral myelin protein 22 (PMP22) mRNA expression was found. Immunofluorescence and Western blot showed the similar results.
Conclusion: DHT in combination with Dezawa's method to induce a BMSCs to differentiate into schwann-like cells with higher expression of P0, which might be more effective in clinical application than previous method for nerve regeneration.
Keywords: BMSCs; Differentiation; Dihydrotestosterone; Myelin protein zero; Schwann cells.