Ferritin is associated with neural differentiation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells under extremely low-frequency electromagnetic field

Extremely low-frequency electromagnetic field (ELFEF) is a well-known mechanical stimulation that induces neural differentiation. It is potentially an effective treatment for neurodegenerative diseases. In a previous study, ferritin light chain was upregulated in ELFEF-exposed human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSC_s). Ferritin light chain is a component of ferritin, a highly conserved iron-binding protein. In this study, to identify molecules associated with ferritin during neural differentiation of BM-MSC_s, we performed reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), western blotting, and ATP analysis. Our data indicated that ELFEF triggers the upregulation of ferritin light chain (FLC) and ferritin heavy chain (FHC) in BM-MSC_s. The elevated levels of FLC and FHC correlated positively with the differentiation of BM-MSCs into neural cells. Moreover ELFEF induced the activation of iron regulatory protein-1 (IRP-1) and cofilin, which are downstream targets of ferritin. These results suggest that ELFEF induces neural differentiation through activation of a ferritin-regulated mechanism.