Protective effects of brain-derived neurotrophic factor on hypoxic cultured neural stem cells

Objective To study the effect of BDNF on the proliferation and differentiation of hypoxic cultured NSCs. Methods MTT method was used to determine the time of hypoxia of NSCs cultured under hypoxic condition from 6 h to 48 h. The NSCs were divided into 4 groups: the control group, the injured group, the protective group with BDNF, the pre-protective group with BDNF. The NSCs of control group were cultured under normal condition and other groups under hypoxic condition, then the MTT value and LDH content were measured after NSCs differentiated for 72 h in every group. Immunohistochemical analysis was used to detect the expression of microtubule-associated protein-2(MAP-2) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). The differentiation ratio was calculated. Results The hypoxic culture time of NSCs was 36 h measured by MTT method. There were significant differences in the MTT value and LDH content of the BDNF protective group and the BDNF pre-protective group as compared with the injured group( P 0.01) .The ratio of differentiated neural stem cells in the BDNF group was higher than that in other groups. Conclusion BDNF had protective effect on hypoxic cultured NSCs.