Abstract
Background: Stem cells have been extensively found in different tissues and organs. Understanding the characteristics of stem cells to maintain their stability may lead to find new ways to control stem cell differentiation. Methods: In this study, the surface potential variation of neural stem/ progenitor cells (NSPCs) during differentiation process was examined. Using cell electrophoresis for measuring the electrophoretic mobility of NSPCs, we showed the electrophoretic mobility of NSPCs could rapidly increase during the first hour of differentiation process. Moreover, an activation energy model describing the variation of the surface potential of NSPCs was proposed. Findings: When NSPCs need to change their phenotypes to differentiate, they require enough energy to process this phenotype alteration. Thus, NSPC differentiation could be enhanced or delayed by controlling electrophoretic mobility of cells, which provided a new vision for stem cell differentiation. Conclusions: This study provided an alternative to regulate the NSPC differentiation by controlling the cellular electrophoretic mobility.
Highlights
Stem cells have been extensively found in different tissues and organs [1,2,3]
Since stem cell receive specific signals for inducing differentiation through cell membrane, we proposed that cell surface variation might be used to monitor stem cell differentiation at the very early stage
We successfully demonstrated the variation of surface charge property of neural stem/ progenitor cells (NSPCs) played an important role during the early stage of differentiation process
Summary
Stem cells have been extensively found in different tissues and organs [1,2,3]. Stem cells are regarded as very stable in tissues and organs because they can remain quiescent and undifferentiated for long periods of time. Stem cells are highly variable to differentiate into different cell types after they receive specific signals. There is a complex interplay between stem cells and their environment to control the initiation of the differentiation process [4]. It is interesting to investigate how stem cells remain in an undifferentiated state when they are surrounded by various differentiated cells. Stem cells have been extensively found in different tissues and organs. Understanding the characteristics of stem cells to maintain their stability may lead to find new ways to control stem cell differentiation
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