ABSTRACT
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are self-renewing
cells found in almost all postnatal organs
and tissues in the perivascular region. These cells present multiple
characteristics that make them candidates to be applied in cell therapy for
neurodegenerative diseases, such as their secretory action, migration to the
lesion area, and immunomodulatory potential. These cells have a high capacity for mesodermal differentiation; however,
numerous studies have shown that MSCs can also differentiate into
neurons. However, despite positive results in
multiple trials in which undifferentiated MSCs transplanted into animal
models of neurodegenerative diseases, some studies suggest that the therapeutic
effects obtained are enhanced by the use of MSCs differentiated towards the
neuronal lineage before transplant. In this sense, there are several methods to induce in vitro reprogramming of MSCs towards the neuronal lineage,
including chemical substances, growth factors, cocultures with neural lineage
cells, transfection of genes, miRNAs, etc., and small molecules stand out. Therefore, this article compares
multiple experimental tests in which these inducers promote neuronal
differentiation of MSCs and identify those methods that originate an optimal
neuronal differentiation. The analysis includes the percentage of
differentiation, maturation, expression of neuronal markers, functionality, and
cell survival considering the intrinsic characteristics of the MSCs used as the
tissue of origin and the species from which they were isolated.