The proliferation effect of rMS on neural stem cells of rats in vitro

Objective To study the mechanism of rats' neural stem cells (NSCs) proliferation in vitro after repetitive magnetic stimulation (rMS). Methods The bilateral hippocampus of neonatal Sprague-Dawley rats (<3 d) was taken out to culture NSCs in vitro. The OD value was evaluated with Cell Counting Kit-8 (cck-8) and cell growth curve was generated. The NSCs cultured were divided into a control group and an rMS group. rMS (3 days, once per day) was applied on p2 NSCs at 10 Hz, 50% machine output and 200 pulses per day. One hour after the last rMS, the cck-8 was used to test the cell proliferation, and the western blotting was applied to detect the protein expression of c-fos and p-CREB. Results The nestin fluorescent staining of p2 neurospheres was proved to be neural stem cells. The growth curve indicated that their viability reached the peak on the third day. The OD value in the rMS group (0.309±0.043) showed a significant difference (P<0.05) after rMS compared with the control group (0.256±0.043). So did the c-fos and p-CREB protein expression between the two groups (P<0.01). Conclusion The rMS at 10 Hz can promote rats' NSCs proliferation in vitro, which may be related to the increased expression of p-CREB and c-fos after rMS. Key words: Repetitive magnetic stimulation; Rats; Neural stem cells; Cell proliferation