PROGESTERONE INDUCES DIFFERENTIATION OF ADIPOSE DERIVED STEM CELLS TO SCHWANN CELLS

Abstract

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Progesterone plays a significant function in myelination of peripheral nerves and improves the formation of new myelin sheaths subsequent to damage of the mouse sciatic nerve. In addition progesterone has promoted myelination of axons when added to explanted cultures of rat dorsal root ganglia accelerate the time of beginning of myelination and to increase the amount of myelin synthesis in cocultures of Schwann cells and sensory neurons. It has shown that progesterone expands activity of the gene’s promoters coding the peripheral myelin protein-22 (PMP-22), and the protein zero (P0). Furthermore Progesterone and its 5α-reduced metabolites drastically increased P0 mRNA levels in Schwann cell cultures. Also, PMP-22, myelin basic protein (MBP), and P0 protein levels were greatly improved by progesterone in co-cultures of dorsal root ganglion neurons and Schwann cells. Progesterone can improve myelination through increasing the expression of transcription factors that are concerned in Schwann cell differentiation and myelination. Recently, two transcription factors have been detected to be essential for promyelinatingto-myelinating alteration including SCIP (Oct-6/ Tst-1) and Krox-20 (Egr-2). Krox-20 is expressed by promyelinating cells and its expression is continued during the procedure of myelination. Krox-20 is considered as a key element of the transduction cascade relating axonal signals to myelination. Block of Krox-20 stops the differentiation of Schwann cells at the promyelinating phase and led to lack of myelination. Understanding the consequence actions of progesterone in the myelination process and MSC dif sferentiation to Schwann cells inspired us to propose that progesterone will be differentiate adipose tissue-derived stem cells to the Schwann cell.