Transplantation of insulin-secreting clusters generated from mesenchymal stem cells to control induced diabetes in rats

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus (D.M) is a disease with a high and increasing prevalence. Insulin-producing cells (IPCs) generated from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have shown immense potential for therapy. This study aimed to compare the differentiation potential of 2 kinds of MSCs obtained from human bone marrow (BM), and umbilical cord blood (UCB) into IPCs. In addition, their therapeutic efficiency to control streptozotocin (STZ) – induced diabetic rats was investigated. MSCs were isolated from human BM and UCB, expanded and differentiated to IPCs. The Cells were evaluated by flow cytometry analysis for MSCs markers, RT-PCR for insulin gene expression and ELISA detection of C-peptide release. IPCS were transplanted into the liver of diabetic rats and then evaluated by weekly measurement of the fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels, and detection of in vivo release of C-peptide. This study demonstrated that FBG levels were reduced in diabetic rats transplanted with IPCs, but in rats transplanted with UCB-derived cells were significantly lower than in those transplanted with BM-derived cells. The amount of Cpeptide released from transplanted IPCs derived from BM-MSCs and UCB-MSCs was non-significantly different. The results indicate that UCB- MSCs and BM-MSCs are promising stem cell sources for IPCs that help in the development of a new strategy for treatment of D.M. However, transplantation of IPCs derived from UCB brings better results than BM-derived cells.