en Cell Biology Cell Biology Original Article Original Article <p style="text-align: justify;">Human umbilical cord matrix (hUCM) is considered as a promising source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) due to several advantages over other tissues. The potential of neural differentiation of hUCM-MSCs is of great interest in the context of treating neurodegenerative diseases. In recent years, considerable efforts&nbsp;have been made to establish <em>in vitro</em> conditions for improving the differentiation of hUCM-MSCs toward neuronal cells. In the present study,&nbsp;we&nbsp;evaluated the neural differentiation potential of hUCM-MSCs in the presence of cAMP-elevating agents forskolin and 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX). hUCM-MSCs were isolated from fetal umbilical cord and characterized by flow cytometry analysis for mesenchymal specific markers. Mesodermal differentiation potential was assessed through selective media with lineage-specific induction factors. For assessment of neural differentiation, cells were cultured in the presence of cAMP-elevating agents for 8 and 24 h. The neuronal differentiated MSCs were characterized for neuronal specific markers by immunocytochemistry and western blotting. Isolated hUCM-MSCs were found positive for mesenchymal markers (CD73, CD90, and CD105) while negative for hematopoietic markers (CD34 and CD45)<span dir="RTL"> .</span>Following neural induction, most cells represented neural-like cells morphology. Neural markers including &beta;-tubulin III (Tuj-1), neuron-specific enolase (NSE), microtubule-associated protein-2 (MAP-2) and nestin were expressed in treated cells with respect to control group. The astrocyte specific marker, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) was also shown by immunofluorescence in treated cells.<strong> (</strong>These findings demonstrate that hUCM-MSCs have the ability to rapidly differentiate into neural cell types of neuron-like cells and astrocytes by cAMP-elevating agents without the presence of growth factors.</p> Umbilical cord matrix mesenchymal stem cells, neural differentiation, cAMP 167 177 http://ijmcmed.org/browse.php?a_code=A-10-854-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Atefeh Shahbazi ghazal.shahbazii@gmail.com 10031947532846007830 10031947532846007830 No Department of Stem Cells and Developmental Biology at Cell Science Research Center, Royan Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Technology, ACECR, Tehran, Iran. Fatemeh Alikarami fatemehalikarami43@gmail.com 10031947532846007831 10031947532846007831 No Department of Hematology, Faculty of Allied Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Saeid Kargozar kargozarsaeid@gmail.com 10031947532846007832 10031947532846007832 No Department of Tissue Engineering and Applied Cell Sciences, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Mohammad Hossein Asadi asadi_mhd@yahoo.com 10031947532846007833 10031947532846007833 No Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Mohammad Taghi Joghataei joghataei@iums.ac.ir 10031947532846007834 10031947532846007834 No Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Mansoureh Soleimani mansourehsoleimani@gmail.com 10031947532846007835 10031947532846007835 No Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Majid Safa safa.m@iums.ac.ir 10031947532846007836 10031947532846007836 Yes Department of Hematology, Faculty of Allied Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.