Influence of NGF on Expression of Neural Stem Cells in Ischemic Cortex of Adult Rat with Cerebral Ischemia

Objective To investigate the effect of NGF on the expression of nestin(special maker of neural stem cell) after focal cerebral ischemia in adult rats.Methods Totally 72 SD rats were randomly divided into 3 groups:sham operation group,model group and experimental group,focal cerebral ischemia models were induced by the thread occlusion method.Then each group was subdivided into 4 groups according to the different ischemic courses(1st,3rd,7th,14th days),12 groups with 6 rats in the each group.Rats in experimental group were infused with 1000μg/kg NGF intraperitoneal injection.Immunohistochemical staining of nestin was used to record the number of positive nestin cells in rats at different time after cerebral ischemia,and increase of the number meant proliferation of neural stem cell.Results None positive nestin cells were observed in cortex in sham operation group.The number of positive nestin cells was increased after ischemia,especially in the region around ischemia.The number of positive nestin cells began to increase on the 1st day,and arrived its peak on the 7th day.The number of positive nestin cells in the experiment group was more than that in model group.The difference between the two groups on the 3(rd),7(th) and 14(th) day were siginificant(P0.05).Conclusions Focal cerebral ischemia can induce NSC proliferation and NGF can enhance the effect.