Abstract
Objective: Investigate whether creatine might enhance the long lasting propagation and differentiation of inner ear stem cells.
Method: Rat inner ear stem cells were propagated in basal medium. Creatine supplementation was at third passage. Self-renewal capacity initiated measured by the spheres number in each passage. Cultures was grown for 2 weeks in creatine absence or presence, and neuronal and hair cell numbers were analyzed by beta-III- tubulin and myosin VIIa immunohistochemistry, respectively.
Results: Stem cells were propagated for 11 passages for utricle and organ of Corti and 6 for spiral ganglion derived spheres. Creatine significantly enhanced the number of propagated spheres from P3 onward. Creatine promoted the spiral ganglia– derived spheres number and significantly increased the yield of neuronal cells of differentiated progenitors by 40%. It had no effect on differentiation in cultures derived from utricle and organ of Corti.
Conclusion: Creatine supplementation promoted both the propagation of rat spiral ganglia, utricle, and organ of Corti, as well as neural differentiation of spiral ganglia stem cells.
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