Conclusions
These findings revealed that HUCB contained the p75NTR+ NC-like progenitor cell population which have the self-renewal capacity and the potential to differentiate into both neuronal and glial cell lineages.
Methods
To confirm whether p75NTR+ NC-derived cells are present in cord blood, flow cytometric analysis of cord blood derived from P0-Cre/Floxed-EGFP reporter mouse embryos was performed. Freshly isolated HUCB mononuclear cells was subjected to flow cytometry to detect p75NTR+ cells and determined their immunophenotype. HUCB p75NTR+ cells were then collected by immunomagnetic separation and their immunophenotype, clonogenic potential, gene expression profile, and multilineage differentiation potential were examined.
Results
NC-derived EGFP+ cells co-expressing p75NTR was detected in cord blood of P0-Cre/Floxed-EGFP reporter mice. We found that freshly isolated HUCB mononuclear cells contained 0.23% of p75NTR+ cells. Isolated p75NTR+ cells from HUCB efficiently formed neurospheres and could differentiate into neuronal and glial cell lineages. The p75NTR+ cells expressed a set of NC-associated genes and undifferentiated neural cell marker genes before and after the culture. Conclusions: These findings revealed that HUCB contained the p75NTR+ NC-like progenitor cell population which have the self-renewal capacity and the potential to differentiate into both neuronal and glial cell lineages.