• The study of NGF, PAX3 and NSE genes expression in bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells after treatment by glabridin for differentiation into nerve-like cells
  • Fatemeh Tahmasebimoghadam,1 Hossein Fahimi,2,* Hora Jalali Tehrani,3
    1. Department of Developmental Biology, Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology, Tehran Medical sciences , Islamic Azad university ,Tehran, Iran
    2. Department of Genetics, Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology, Tehran Medical sciences , Islamic Azad university ,Tehran, Iran
    3. Department of Developmental Biology, Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology, Tehran Medical sciences , Islamic Azad university ,Tehran, Iran


  • Introduction: Glabridin is an essential iso-flavonoid extracted from Licorice root and has antioxidant and neuroprotective functions. As the in-vitro differentiation potential of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells into the nerve-like cells is approved, glabridin effect on the differentiation of these cells will be analyzed via assessment of effective genes expression level to make a way to repair the nerve system defects.
  • Methods: Human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells were induced using 5, 10, 20, 40, and 80 µm glabridin concentrations for 24 hrs. The toxicity of glabridin was assessed using MTT assay and cell morphologies were observed using inverted optical microscopy. Alteration of NGF, PAX3and NSE genes expression were assessed using the Real-time PCR method.
  • Results: MTT results showed that cell death occurred in 40 and 80 µm doses. Based on the performed analysis, during the 24hrs treatment, NGFand NSE genes expression levels at the case group increased in comparison to the control group, though, the expression level of the PAX3 gene has significant decrease.
  • Conclusion: The present results showed that the bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells treatment using glabridin resulted in the NGFand NSE genes expression enhancement, and PAX3 gene expression reduction via enhancement of their differentiation into the nerve-like cells. Therefore, glabridin could be used in the differentiation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells into nerve-like cells.
  • Keywords: Mesenchymal stem cells, Bone marrow, Nerve-like cells, Glabridin.