A Comparative Study of the Effects of Sodium Selenite and Glutathione Mono Ethyl Ester on Aged Adipose-Derived Stem Cells: The Telomerase and Cellular Responses.

The proliferation and differentiation potential of adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) decline with aging. Moreover, Alzheimer's disease is associated with progressive decline in cholinergic neurons. The purpose of this study is to enhance the proliferation potential of aged rat ADSCs and their differentiation into cholinergic neurons. The ADSCs were collected from aged male rats cultured and treated with different concentrations of sodium selenite for 3 days or glutathione mono ethyl ester (GSH-MEE) for 1 day. Incubating the ADSCs with 27 nM sodium selenite for 3 days significantly increased the relative cell proliferation, compared with the control, without any change in the telomerase activity, the related telomerase gene expression, and the telomere length, but it does improve differentiation of the aged ADSCs to cholinergic neuron-like cells. GSH-MEE at a concentration of 2 mM for 1 day resulted in increased relative cell proliferation, but it did not change the telomerase activity, the related telomerase gene expression, the telomere length, and differentiation potential. Sodium selenite is more effective than GSH-MEE in improving the aged ADSCs' properties. However, both did not have any effect on telomerase activity.