Egr1 mediated the neuronal differentiation induced by extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields

• Published in: Life sciences (1973) 2014-04, Vol.102 (1), p.16-27
• Main Authors: Seong, Yeju, Moon, Jihye, Kim, Jongpil
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Cell Differentiation - physiology; Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy - methods; Cells, Cultured; Disease Models, Animal; Early Growth Response Protein 1 - metabolism; Egr1; Electromagnetic Fields; Extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields; Fluorescent Antibody Technique; Human bone marrow–mesenchymal stem cell; Humans; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells - cytology; Mice; Mouse neural stem cell; Neurodegenerative Diseases - physiopathology; Neurodegenerative Diseases - therapy; Neuronal differentiation; Neurons - cytology; Neurons - transplantation; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Transcription factor; Transcriptome
• ISSN: 0024-3205; 1879-0631
• DOI: 10.1016/j.lfs.2014.02.022

There is a specific frequency of extremely low-frequency electromagnetic field (ELF-EMF) that promotes neuronal differentiation. Although several mechanisms are known to regulate ELF-EMF-induced neuronal differentiation, a key factor that mediates neurogenic potentials by the ELF-EMF is largely unknown. Also, the potential use of ELF-EMF exposure in cell transplantation assays is yet to be determined, including their possible use in ELF-EMF based therapy of neurological diseases. The aim of this study is to understand the underlying mechanisms that mediate ELF-EMF-induced neuronal differentiation and also to harness these mechanisms for cell transplantation assays. Human bone marrow–mesenchymal stem cells (hBM–MSCs) were exposed to ELF-EMF (50Hz frequency, 1mT intensity) for 8days. The hBM–MSC derived neurons were then analyzed by general molecular biology techniques including immunofluorescence and quantitative RT-PCR. To assess changes in gene expression induced by ELF-EMF exposure, we analyzed the transcriptome of neuronal cells after an 8-day ELF-EMF exposure (50Hz, 1mT) and compared the transcriptional profiles to control cells. We found that early growth response protein 1 (Egr1) is one of the key transcription factors in ELF-EMF-induced neuronal differentiation. In addition, we show that transplantations of ELF-EMF-induced neurons significantly alleviate symptoms in mouse models of neurodegenerative disease. These findings indicate that a specific transcriptional factor, Egr1, mediates ELF-EMF-induced neuronal differentiations, and demonstrate the promise of ELF-EMF based cell replacement therapies for neurodegenerative diseases.