Electrical stimulation enhances neurogenin2 expression through β-catenin signaling pathway of mouse bone marrow stromal cells and intensifies the effect of cell transplantation on brain injury

Bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) have received significant attention for its use in neural regeneration. However, neural replacement by transplanted BMSCs was not very effective. Recently, the gene transfection method has improved the capability of cell transplantation; however, this method results in canceration and immune rejection. We induced the differentiation of mouse BMSCs into neural cells using electrical stimulation and transplanted the cells into traumatic brain injury (TBI) model mice. We found that the electrically stimulated cells have good potential to differentiate into neural cells and contribute to recovery from TBI without differentiating into astrocytes. In addition, we found that electrical stimulation enhanced neurogenin2 (Ngn2) expression. Ngn2 is involved in neural differentiation and inhibits astrocytic differentiation during cell growth. Furthermore, we found that this enhancement of Ngn2 expression occurred through beta-catenin signaling pathway. This study may contribute to the use of BMSCs for neural replacement in central nervous system diseases. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.