Direct Conjugation of Retinoic Acid with Gold Nanoparticles to Improve Neural Differentiation of Human Adipose Stem Cells

• Published in: Journal of molecular neuroscience Vol. 70; no. 11; pp. 1836 - 1850
• Main Authors: Asgari, Vajihe, Landarani-Isfahani, Amir, Salehi, Hossein, Amirpour, Noushin, Hashemibeni, Batool, Kazemi, Mohammad, Bahramian, Hamid
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-11-2020
• Subjects: Adipose Tissue - cytology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cell Biology; Cell Survival; Cells, Cultured; Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein - genetics; Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein - metabolism; Gold - chemistry; Humans; Mesenchymal Stem Cells - cytology; Mesenchymal Stem Cells - drug effects; Mesenchymal Stem Cells - metabolism; Metal Nanoparticles - adverse effects; Metal Nanoparticles - chemistry; Microtubule-Associated Proteins - genetics; Microtubule-Associated Proteins - metabolism; Nanoconjugates - adverse effects; Nanoconjugates - chemistry; Neural Stem Cells - cytology; Neural Stem Cells - metabolism; Neurochemistry; Neurogenesis; Neurology; Neurosciences; Proteomics; Tretinoin - adverse effects; Tretinoin - pharmacology; Neuronal differentiation; Human adipose-derived stromal/stem cells; Cell viability; Retinoic acid; Gold nanoparticles
• ISSN: 0895-8696; 1559-1166
• DOI: 10.1007/s12031-020-01577-w

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been proposed as useful medical carriers in the field of regenerative medicine. This study aimed to assess the direct conjugation ability of retinoic acid (RA) with AuNPs and to develop a strategy to differentiate the human adipose-derived stromal/stem cells (hADSCs) into neurons using AuNPs-RA. The physical properties of this nanocarrier were characterized using FT-IR, TEM, and FE-SEM. Moreover, the efficiency of RA conjugation on AuNPs was determined at 99% using UV-Vis spectroscopy. According to the MTT assay, an RA concentration of 66 μM caused a 50% inhibition of cell viability and AuNPs were not cytotoxic in concentrations below 5 μg/ml. Real-time PCR and immunocytochemistry proved that AuNPs-RA is able to increase the expression of neuronal marker genes and the number of neuronal protein (GFAP and MAP2)-positive cells, 14 days post-induction of hADSCs. Taken together, these results confirmed that the AuNPs-RA promote the neuronal differentiation of hADSCs.