Wnt signaling pathways participate in Astragalus injection-induced differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells

Abstract Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have the capacity for self-renewal and multi-directional differentiation, and MSCs can differentiate into neuron-like cells under certain conditions. In this study, we used the traditional Chinese medicine Astragalus as an inducer. After 7 days of induction, the expression of specific markers was detected in each induced group by immunocytochemical staining. The results of real-time quantitative PCR and Western blot confirmed the immunocytochemistry analysis. We also tested some key genes and proteins of the Wnt signaling pathway, and found that they were increased in Astragalus-treated groups. After treatment with lithium chloride (LiCl), the protein expression of phospho GSK-3β and β-catenin was increased in each group compared to the corresponding group without LiCl. These findings demonstrate that Astragalus injection can induce differentiation of MSCs into neuron-like cells and suggest that the process of differentiation might be mediated by activation of Wnt signaling pathways.