A comparative study between different types of umbilical cord stem cells in treatment of experimental diabetic rats

Abstract

The number of patients suffering from DM is growing in an alarming rate which makes DM the most prevalent and serious metabolic disease. In fact, insulin secreting β-cells are damaged to different extent in both type 1 and 2 diabetic patients. Now, cell therapy treatment options for diabetic patients are under extensive study. Several reports have been published concerning the differentiation of many kinds of stem cells into IPCs. Recently, UC has been proved to be a good source of MSCs either from UCB or from WJ; the connective tissue surrounding the umbilical vessels. These MSCs offer several advantages over other types of stem cells. Thus, we sought to isolate, propagate and characterize MSCs from two sources of UC, namely UCB and WJ as non-invasive, readily available and potential banking sources of stem cells. Furthermore, we compared these two promising types of cells for their pancreatic differentiation potential in vitro and their ability to control hyperglycemia in STZ induced diabetic rats in vivo.