effects of exendine-4 on the differentiation of insulin producing cells from rat adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells

background: to evaluate the effect of exendine-4 (ex-4), a glucagon-like peptide 1 (glp-1) receptor agonist, on the differentiation of insulin-secreting cells (ipcs) from rat adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells(admscs). materials and methods: in this experimental study, admscs were isolated from rat adipose tissue and exposed to induction media with or without ex-4. after induction, the existence of ipcs was confirmed by morphology analysis, expression pattern analysis of islet-specific genes (pdx-1, glut-2 and insulin) and insulin synthesis and secretion. results: ipcs induced in presence of ex-4 were morphologically similar to pancreatic islet-like cells. expression of pdx-1, glut-2 and insulin genes in ex-4 treated cells was significantly higher than the cells exposed to differentiation media without ex-4. compared to ex-4 untreated admscs, insulin release from ex-4 treated admscs showed a nearly 2.5 fold (p<0.05) increase when exposed to a high glucose (25 mm) medium. the percentage of insulin positive cells in the ex-4 treated group was approximately 4-fold higher than in the ex-4 untreated admscs. conclusion: the present study has demonstrated that ex-4 enhances the differentiation of admscs into ipcs. improvement of this method may help the formation of an unlimited source of cells for transplantation.