Osteogenic and neurogenic differentiation of EGFP gene transfected neural stem cells derived from the brain of porcine fetuses at intermediate and late gestational age.

The aims of this study were (i) to determine whether NSCs (neural stem cells) could be isolated from the brain of porcine fetuses at intermediate and late gestational age and (ii) to determine if these stem cells could be differentiated in vitro into osteogenic and neurogenic lineages following transfection with a reporter gene, EGFP (enhanced green fluorescence protein). The NSCs were isolated from the brains of porcine fetuses at intermediate and late gestational age and transfected with EGFP gene using lipofection. The transfected NSCs cells were induced to differentiate into cells of osteogenic and neurogenic lineages. Markers associated with NSCs and their osteogenic and neurogenic derivatives were tested by PCR. The results demonstrated that NSCs could be isolated from the brain of porcine fetus at intermediate and late gestational age and that transfected NSCs expressed EGFP and could be induced to differentiate in vitro. NSCs expressed CD-90, Hes1, Oct4, Sox2 and Nestin, while following differentiation cells expressed markers for osteogenic (osteocalcin and osteonectin) and neurogenic cells such as astrocyte [GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein)], oligodendrocyte [GALC (galactosylceramide)] and neuron [NF (neurofilament), ENO2 (enolase 2) and MAP (microtubule-associated protein)].