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Research
Transplantation of insulin-producing cells from umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats
1 Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Republic of China
2 Department of Emergency, Division of Surgery, Veteran General Hospital, Taipei, Republic of China
3 Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, School of Medicine, National Yang Ming University, 201 Shih-Pai Road Section 2, Taipei, 112, Republic of China
4 Department of Surgery, Veteran General Hospital, Taipei, Republic of China
5 Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Cardiovascular Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Republic of China
6 Department of Biology and Anatomy, National Defense Medical Center, 161 Ming Chuan E. Road Section 6, Taipei, 114, Republic of China
Journal of Biomedical Science 2012, 19:47 doi:10.1186/1423-0127-19-47
Published: 30 April 2012Abstract
Background
Although diabetes mellitus (DM) can be treated with islet transplantation, a scarcity of donors limits the utility of this technique. This study investigated whether human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from umbilical cord could be induced efficiently to differentiate into insulin-producing cells. Secondly, we evaluated the effect of portal vein transplantation of these differentiated cells in the treatment of streptozotocin-induced diabetes in rats.
Methods
MSCs from human umbilical cord were induced in three stages to differentiate into insulin-producing cells and evaluated by immunocytochemistry, reverse transcriptase, and real-time PCR, and ELISA. Differentiated cells were transplanted into the liver of diabetic rats using a Port-A catheter via the portal vein. Blood glucose levels were monitored weekly.
Results
Human nuclei and C-peptide were detected in the rat liver by immunohistochemistry. Pancreatic β-cell development-related genes were expressed in the differentiated cells. C-peptide release was increased after glucose challenge in vitro. Furthermore, after transplantation of differentiated cells into the diabetic rats, blood sugar level decreased. Insulin-producing cells containing human C-peptide and human nuclei were located in the liver.
Conclusion
Thus, a Port-A catheter can be used to transplant differentiated insulin-producing cells from human MSCs into the portal vein to alleviate hyperglycemia among diabetic rats.
