MiR-218 Induces Neuronal Differentiation of ASCs in a Temporally Sequential Manner with Fibroblast Growth Factor by Regulation of the Wnt Signaling Pathway

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 7; no. 1; p. 39427
• Main Authors: Hu, Feihu, Sun, Bo, Xu, Peng, Zhu, Yanliang, Meng, Xian-Hui, Teng, Gao-Jun, Xiao, Zhong-Dang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 03-01-2017; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/337/384/331; 631/532/1360; Cell differentiation; Embryos; Fibroblast growth factor 2; Fibroblasts; Growth factors; Humanities and Social Sciences; Mesenchyme; miRNA; multidisciplinary; Nervous tissues; Neural stem cells; Science; Signal transduction; Stem cells; Tissue engineering; Wnt protein
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep39427

Differentiation of neural lineages from mesenchymal stem cells has raised the hope of generating functional cells as seed cells for nerve tissue engineering. As important gene regulators, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been speculated to play a vital role in accelerating stem cell differentiation and repairing neuron damage. However, miRNA roles in directing differentiation of stem cells in current protocols are underexplored and the mechanisms of miRNAs as regulators of neuronal differentiation remain ambiguous. In this study, we have determined that
miR-218
serves as crucial constituent regulator in neuronal differentiation of adipose stem cells (ASCs) through Wnt signaling pathway based on comprehensive annotation of miRNA sequencing data. Moreover, we have also discovered that miR-218 and Fibroblast Growth Factor-2 (FGF2) modulate neuronal differentiation in a sequential manner. These findings provide additional understanding of the mechanisms regulating stem cell neuronal differentiation as well as a new method for neural lineage differentiation of ASCs.