Equine adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ASCs) possess a considerable lent regeneration potential for treatment of musculoskeletal injuries. Before the clinical applications of ASCs, their molecular analysis may shed more light on the future purposes. This study aimed to investigate migratory behavioral aspects of ASCs in vitro which may influence the efficacy of stem cell therapy. For this purpose, MSCs of a donor horse were isolated, characterized and expanded under normal culture conditions. During continuous culture condition, ASCs were started to formed aggregated structures that was accompanied with the upregulation of migratory related genes including transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGFB1) and its receptor 3 (TGFBR3), and snail family transcriptional repressor 1 (SNAI1), E-cadherin (CDH1) and β-catenin CTNNB1). In order to clarify the impact of TGFB signaling pathway on cultured cells, gain– and loss-of-function treatment by TGFB3 and SB431542 (TGFB inhibitor) were performed. We found that TGFB3 treatment exaggerated the aggregate formation effects. Overall, our findings support the fact that ASCs have an inherent capacity for migration, which was enhanced by TGFB3 treatment and, this ability may play crucial role in cell motility and wound healing of transplanted cells.

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