Efficient One-Step Induction of Human Umbilical Cord-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells (UC-MSCs) Produces MSC-Derived Neurospheres (MSC-NS) with Unique Transcriptional Profile and Enhanced Neurogenic and Angiogenic Secretomes

Figure 6

(a) Heatmap of the expression levels of human growth factor cytokines before induction (D0) and at D1, 3, 5, and 7 after induction of UC-MSC-derived neurospheres. Human neural stem cells (NouvNeu hNSCs) were used as a positive control. UC-MSCs, UC-MSC-derived neurospheres, and hNSCs have different secretomes, but UC-MSC-derived neurospheres are skewed toward the hNSC secretome. The color scale shown illustrates the relative expression of the indicated cytokines across the samples: red denotes high expression and blue denotes low expression. (b and c) Schematic illustration of UC-MSC-derived neurosphere formation. Serum-free suspension culture with EGF- and bFGF-containing medium led to a significant increase in neurogenic and stemness gene expression (probably neurogenic genes predominate) in UC-MSCs, resulting in neurosphere formation which closely resembles neural progenitor cells with self-renewal and multipotency capacity.

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