Neuronal differentiation of human umbilical cord blood neural stem-like cell line

The expanding population of neural stem/progenitor cells can be selected from human cord blood nonhematopoietic (CD34-negative) mononuclear fraction. Due to repeated expansion and selection of these cells we have established the first clonogenic, nonimmortalized human umbilical cord blood neural stem-like cell (HUCB-NSC) line. This line can be maintained at different stages of neural progenitor development by the presence of trophic factors, mitogens and neuromorphogens in culture media. Neurogenic potential of HUCB-NSC was established for serum-free and low-serum cultured cells. Commitment of HUCB-NSC by serum was shown to be important for the optimal response to the signals provided by surrounding environment in vitro. Enhanced neuronal differentiation induced by dBcAMP treatment was accompanied by expression of several functional proteins including glutamatergic, GABAergic, dopamine, serotonin and acetylcholine receptors, which was shown by microarray, immunocytochemistry and electrophysiology. Electrophysiological studies, whole-cell patch-clamp recordings, revealed in differentiated HUCB-NSC two types of voltage-sensitive and several ligand-gated currents typical for neuronal cells. The above HUCB-NSC characteristic conceivably implicates that cord blood-derived progenitors could be effectively differentiated into functional neuron-like cells in vitro.