Induction of Neural Stem Cell by Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor, Epidermal Growth Factor and Fetal Bovine Serum

Objective To study the effect of bFGF and EGF on differentiation of neural stem cells from the hippocampi of neonatal rats. Methods The neural stem cells which were isolated from the hippocampi of neonatal rats in vitro were induced by bFGF and EGF. The expression of nestin was examined at 2h in culture. Following 7d in culture, immunofluorescence and flow cytometry were used to detect the results of cell differentiation. Results Most of culture cells were nestin-positive. In every group stem cell growing and differentiating can be promoted. bFGF mainly induced more cells to differentiate into NSE-positive cells( P 0.05 vs control) and EGF into GFAP-positive cells( P 0.05 vs control). Conclusion bFGF exerts a preferential effect on neuronal development and to a less extent, glial development and EGF may induce stem cells differentiate into glial cells.