AIMIn order to investigate the effect of mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells on proliferation and differentiation towards megakaryocytes of CD34+ cells from human umbilical cord blood in vitro.

METHODSAfter mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells were advancely planted in DMEM medium and grown up to 80%, then the CD34+ cells were added to culture with mesenchymal stem/ progenitor cells or without mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells in DMEM for 14 days with TPO + IL-3 + SCF, TPO + IL-3 + SCF + IL-11 respectively. After cultured for 14 days, mononuclear cells (MNCs) were counted by automatic cell analyzer. The number of CD41+ cells and platelets were detected by flow cytometry. Platelets function were assessed through platelet aggregation test which was induced by thrombin.

RESULTSAs compared with the control group, the number of MNCs of co-culture system was not increased significantly (P > 0.05), but the number of CD4+ cells and platelets were increased significantly (P < 0.05). The platelets were aggregated by thrombin induced which could be seen in microscope or flow cytometry.

CONCLUSIONIt is concluded that mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells may be promoted to induce the cord blood CD34+ cells to differentiate towards megakaryocyte in the culture medium.