Abstract: Objective To induce bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) of green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgenic mice (GFP-GM-BMSCs) into neural-like cells in serum-free medium. Methods GFP-GM-BMSCs were isolated and cultured in serum-containing medium. Then the 3rd generation of GFP-GM-BMSCs were transferred into serum-free medium containing 2% B27 supplement with 20ng/ml basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and 20ng/ml epidermal growth factor (EGF).At the 5th day after culture, the expression of Nestin was examined by immunofluorescence. NSE, GFAP were examined by immunocytochemistry on the 10th day following the induction. Results The induced GFP-GM-BMSCs gradually became circular. Some of them grew long processes and showed the neuron-like appearance. The positive expression of Nestin was about (40.24%+5.09)% on the 5th day, while the NSE and GFAP were positively expressed as (36.43+5.27)% and (49.73+6.28)% respectively on the 10th day after the culture. Conclusions GFP-GM-BMSCs could be induced into neuron-like cells in serum-free medium containing EGF and bFGF.

Key words: green fluorescent protein (GFP), bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs), cell differentiate, neuron-like cell