To investigate the myogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) after being transplanted into the local muscle tissues.

Testis transplantation is an important and effective way to treat abdominal impalpable cryptorchidism, male hypogonadism and male infertility. Since 1990s a lot of advances have been made in microsurgical autotransplantation, homotransplantation, testicular tissue transplantation and Leydig cell transplantation. The main achievements include the application of laparoscopy in autotransplantation, researches on the influential factors in spermatogenesis after homotransplantation, explorations of new treatment methods such as fetal testis transplantation, spermatogonial stem cell transplantation and so on. The advances in testis transplantation are summarized in this paper based on the related literature of recent years.

To investigate the neural differentiating capability of the umbilical cord tissue-derived stromal cells (UCSCs) in the attempt to find a new cell source for neural transplantation.

To investigate the possibility of inducing mouse bone marrow stromal stem cells (MSCs) into progenitor cardiomyocytes in vitro.

To study the optimal dosage and timing for bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) labeling of rat bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in vitro.

To probe the conditions for inducing human cord blood monocytes to differentiate into neuron-like cells.

To study the capability of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to differentiate into adipocyte, osteoblasts, and neurocytes under different experimental conditions in vitro.

To study the in vitro biocompatibility of novel hydroxyapatite (HA) and AO artificial bone beta-tricalcium phosphate (beta-TCP) with rhesus bone marrow stromal cells (rBMSCs) .

To assess whether hepatocyte growth factor recruits bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells into blood circulation to participate in postnatal angiogenesis and endothelium repair.

To investigate the sustaining effects of gene-transferring hepatic stellate cell strain CFSC/HGF on the development of hepatocytes.

To study the induction of Xiangdan Injection (XDI) on the committed differentiation into neuron from rMSCs.

To study the effect of Xiangdan injection (XDI) in inducing adult SD rat marrow mesenchymal stem cells (rMSCs) orientedly differentiated into neuron-like cells, its characteristics and influencing factors were explored.

To isolate human adipose tissue-derived stromal cells and study the potential of osteogenic differentiation after inductive culture.

To investigate the effect of transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) on ectomesenchymal stem cells differentiating to smooth muscle cells.

To investigate the expression dynamics and significance of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) membrane type-matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MT-MMP-2) in hepatic fibrosis and its reversal counterpart.

Embryonic stem cells have been the focus in tissue engineering, developmental biology, drug development and gene research. In this paper, the mechanisms, advances and applications of oriented differentiation of embryonic stem cells are reviewed for the promotion of researches on embryonic stem cells in future.

To study the morphological characteristics of hepatic stem cells and the expression of HGF, IGF-I, TGFbeta1 and their receptors in human embryonic livers at 3-5 weeks of gestation. The SABC immunohistochemical method with HE counterstaining was employed. We found that the hepatic bud formed at the end of the 3rd week. At the 4th week, the cells of hepatic bud migrated into the septum transversum mesenchyme and formed the hepatic cords. The hepatic cells at 3-4 weeks displayed the typical characteristics of immature cells: small size, a round or ovoid nucleus with dark color, scant cytoplasm with slight blue and a high ratio of nuclei/cytoplasm. They were positive for alpha-Fetoprotein (AFP), c-Met and negative for cytokertin 19 (CK19), and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). At the 5th week, compared to those at the 4th week, the number of cells within the hepatic cords increased. But the cells at the 5th week were homogeneous and displayed the typical characteristic of immature cells. Those cells began to express PCNA at the 5th week. The hepatic cells at the 5th week were positive for insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), transforming growth factor beta1 (TGFbeta1) and their receptors, and were negative for hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), while HGF were positive in the cardiac cells and septum transversum mesenchyme. The results indicated that the cells of hepatic bud and cords were the hepatic stem cells. The difference of morphology and proteins expression at 3-5 weeks of gestation inferred that those stem cells belong to different developmental stage. AFP and c-Met were the markers of hepatic stem cells at the early stage of human embryo. HGF, IGF-I, TGFbeta1 and their receptors may involve in regulating the development of early embryonic human liver.

To evaluate the therapeutic effect of transplantation of autologous bone marrow mononuclear cells combined with traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of limb ischemia.