Patent ID: 7718429

Claim:
A method for inducing differentiation from bone marrow stromal cells to skeletal muscle cells, which comprises: (a) adding (i) a cyclic AMP (cAMP) increasing agent or a cAMP analogue, and (ii) a cell differentiation stimulating factor comprising bFGF, PDGF-AA, and neuregulin to a culture of bone marrow stromal cells wherein said bone marrow stromal cells are not treated with a demethylating agent, and culturing the cells; (b) introducing a Notch gene into the cells obtained in (a), and culturing the cells to obtain a culture of myoblasts, provided that said culture does not contain a co-culture of the cells introduced with the gene and non-introduced cells; and (c) adding a Notch ligand to the culture of the myoblasts obtained in (b), and culturing the cells such that skeletal muscle cells are induced.