Effects of Notch-I signalling pathway on differentiation of marrow mesenchymal stem cells into neurons in vitro

In this study, the putative involvement of the Notch-1 signaling pathway in the neuronal differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) was investigated through RNA interference (RNAi). We found that mNotch-1shRNA could efficiently block expression of Notch-1 in BMSCs. After induction, immunohistochemistry, reverse transcriptase-PCR and Western blot analyses, all indicated that the expression of neuron-specific markers such as neuron-specific enolase and neurofilament 200 was much higher in mNotch-1shRNA BMSCs than that in control groups, whereas the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein was lower in mNotch-1shRNA BMSCs. The percentage of apoptotic cells in mNotch-1shRNA BMSCs, however, was significantly higher than that in control groups. These data indicate that Notch signaling plays a role in the differentiation of BMSCs into neurons in vitro. Pharmacological or genetic interference with Notch signaling may provide a novel method to obtain neurons for therapeutic use.