Altered expression of microRNAs in the neuronal differentiation of human Wharton's Jelly mesenchymal stem cells.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have the capacity to generate multiple tissues of mesodermal origin, and also have the potential to trans-differentiate into neurons. We isolated MSCs from the Wharton's jelly of the human umbilical cord (WJ-MSCs), and efficiently induced WJ-MSCs into neuron-like cells using a modified method. After neuronal induction for 12 days, most of WJ-MSCs expressed mature neuronal marker MAP2 (83 ± 7%), and meanwhile some adopted neuronal morphology. WJ-MSCs also expressed Nestin (34 ± 6%), NSE (30 ± 5%), and GFAP (12 ± 3%). Moreover, we used miRNA microarray to analyze the differentially expressed miRNAs in neuronal differentiation of WJ-MSCs. Microarray analysis revealed discrepant miRNA profiles in the uninduced WJ-MSCs and WJ-MSCs derived neurons. Six miRNAs were chosen for further qRT-PCR validation. Among these 6 miRNAs, four miRNAs (miR-1290, miR-26b, miR-194, and miR-124a) were up-regulated and 2 miRNAs (miR-4521 and miR-543) were down-regulated in the WJ-MSCs derived neurons. In conclusion, WJ-MSCs could be efficiently induced into neuron-like cells. More importantly, our findings suggested that miRNAs might play important roles in the neuronal differentiation of WJ-MSCs.