Ectogenic nitric oxide inhibits proliferation of neural stem cells in mice

    ZHANG Xiang, LIN L¨¹ª²Biao, JI Xiª²Tuan, FEI Zhou, WU Jingª²Wen ,LI Xia, LIAN Jingª²Wen, WANG Xiª²Ling

    PLA Institute of Neurosurgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi¬ðan 710033, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To explore the inhibitive effects of ectogenesis nitric oxide (NO) on the proliferation of neural stem cells (NSC) in mice. METHODS: NSCs were cultured in medium containing EGF, and the medium was supplemented with SNP as a donor of NO in vitro. The release of NO from SNP was measured by Griess assay in the medium after 24 h. Half of the cells in the wells were measured by MTT assay. The rest were kept on culturing in medium without SNP and were measured by MTT assay after 24 h. The NSC depressed by SNP for 24 h were induced to differentiate in medium supplemented with serum and were examined by immunohistochemistry to identify the expression of NOS. RESULTS: The release of NO increased along with the enhancement of the concentration of SNP. The amount of living cells in experiment groups decreased compared with the controls as shown by MTT test (P<0.01). The NSCs still had the ability to proliferate actively and could be induced to differentiate into neuron and glial cells in medium when SNP was removed. The expression of nNOS and eNOS was positive in NSCs depressed by SNP, but the expression of iNOS was negative. CONCLUSION: Ectogenic nitric oxide inhibits the proliferation of mouse NSC in vitro. ......