Protective effect of BDNF on neural stem cells against damage by β-amyloid protein

Objective To investigate the protective effects of brain derived neurotrophic factor(BDNF) on neural stem cells(NSCs) against the damage caused by β-amyloid protein(Aβ).Methods NSCs were cultured for 7 days and grouped as follows: group 1 (control group)was NSCs with normal culture conditions;group 2(injured group) was NSCs +Aβ;group 3(protective group) was NSCs +Aβ+BDNF;group 4(pre-protective group) was NSCs +BDNF+Aβ —NSCs were not treated with Aβ until NSCs and BDNF were co-cultured for 48 hours.The contents of LDH,NO and NOS in each group mentioned above were measured by spectrophotometry.Immunohistochemical analyses were used to detect the expression of microtubule associated protein-2(MAP-2).The morphological changes were observed during induction by transmission electron microscopy.Results There were no significant differences in contents of LDH,NO and NOS between the protective groups(groups 3 and 4) and the control group,however there were significant differences in the contents of LDH,NO and NOS between the protective groups(groups 3 and 4) and the injured group.The immunohistochemical examination showed that the ratio of differentiated neural stem cells in the protective group was higher than that in the injured group.The transmission electron microscopy showed that in the protective group,the apoptosis of neural stem cells was greatly decreased as compared with that in the injured group.In the pre-protective group,the proliferation of neural stem cell was greatly accelerated as compared with that in the protective group.Conclusions BDNF could have the action to protect neural stem cells from the cell toxicity caused by Aβ.If BDNF is co-cultured with neural stem cell beforehand,it can have higher protective efficiency.