Evaluation of differentiation potential of menstrual blood-derived stem cells to cardiomyocytes in vitro

Background and Objective: In recent decades, stem cell therapy has been introduced as a novel therapeutic approach for patients suffering from cardiac disorders. Recently, identification of menstrual blood-derived stem cells (MenSCs) as a unique source of stem cell with some characteristics as well as ease of access, high proliferative ability and renewability has created enormous promise for cell therapy.



Materials and Methods: In this study, differentiation ability of MenSCs into cardiomyocytes has been investigated. After MenSCs immunophenotyping, their differentiation into cardiomyocyte was investigated in the presence of 5-azacytidine and basic-fibroblast growth factor. Then, expression of the putative myogenic cells at mRNA and protein levels was determined by immunofluorescent staining and real-time quantitative PCR.



Results: Based on flow cytometric analysis, the isolated MenSCs typically expressed mesenchymal stem cell markers like CD105, CD73, CD44 and CD166 in parallel to OCT-4 as an embryonic marker. The differentiated MenSCs expressed cardiomyocyte markers at mRNA/protein level. The myogenic cells differentiated from MenSCs were positive for Connexin-43 and troponin T2 (TNNT2) protein. The mRNAs of Connexin-43, Connexin-40, Alpha actinin, Tropomyosin1 and TNNT2 were highly expressed in the differentiated myogenic cells.



Conclusion: Based on our data, MenSCs are a unique cell population with differentiation ability into cells with characteristics commonly attributed to cardiomyocytes.