Abstract:To induce differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells into neuron-like cells by biological material. Methods Using bone marrow adherent characteristic, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells were extracted. Then the cells were identified by cell surface antigens CD45 and CD90. The cells were divided into three groups namely pure chitosan, chitosan-loaded bFGF group and bFGF group. The expressions of neural stem cell marker Nestin and neuron-like cell marker Tuj-1 were evaluated using immunocytochemical method on the 3rd and 7th d respectively. Results The proportion of Nestin-positive cells in the bFGF loaded group on the 3rd day was significantly higher than that in the other two groups ( p< 0.05). Similarly, the proportion of Nestin and Tuj-1 double positive cells in the bFGF loaded group was significantly higher than that in the other two groups on the 7th day of induction ( p< 0.05). Conclusions bFGF-loaded chitosan can induce differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells of adult rat into neuron-like cells at a high proportion, which provides a theoretical and experimental evidence for autologous transplantation in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and central nervous system injury.