Project description:Naloxone is an opioid-receptor antagonist used to reverse the effects of opioid.In our study, we treated NSCs (neural stem cells) with naloxone and damgo (a selective μopioid receptor agonist), and examined their effects on NSCs proliferation and differentiation.Naloxone was found to promote NSCs proliferation and neural differentiation, while the effects of damgo was very week. The results suggested that naloxone may work indepedent of opioid receptors. To investigate the underlying mechanisms, RNA-seq was conducted. For proliferation analysis,p8 NSCs were cultured with or without naloxone or damgo for 3 days. For differentiation analysis,p8 NSCs was induced to differentiate with or without naloxone or damgo, samples on D2 were collected and analyzed.
Project description:Naloxone is an opioid-receptor antagonist used to reverse the effects of opioid.In our study, we treated NSCs (neural stem cells) with naloxone and damgo (a selective μopioid receptor agonist), and examined their effects on NSCs proliferation and differentiation.Naloxone was found to promote NSCs proliferation and neural differentiation, while the effects of damgo was very week. The results suggested that naloxone may work indepedent of opioid receptors. To investigate the underlying mechanisms, RNA-seq was conducted. For proliferation analysis,p8 NSCs were cultured with or without naloxone or damgo for 3 days. For differentiation analysis,p8 NSCs was induced to differentiate with or without naloxone or damgo, samples on D2,4,8 were collected and analyzed.
Project description:Transplantation of neural stem cells (NSCs) has been proved to promote functional rehabilitation of brain lesions including ischemic stroke. However, the therapeutic effects of NSC transplantation is limited by the low survival and differentiation rates of NSCs due to the harsh environment in the brain after ischemic stroke. Here, we employed NSCs derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) together with exosomes extracted from NSCs to treat cerebral ischemia induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion (MCAO/R) in mice. The results showed that NSC-derived exosomes significantly reduced the inflammatory response, alleviated oxidative stress after NSC transplantation, and facilitated NSCs differentiation in vivo. The combination of NSCs with exosomes ameliorated the injury of brain tissue including cerebral infarct, neuronal death and glial scarring, and promoted the motor function recovery. To explore the underlying mechanisms, we analyzed the miRNA profiles of NSC-derived exosomes and the potential downstream genes. Our study provided the rationale for the clinical application of NSC-derived exosomes as a supportive adjuvant for NSC transplantation after stroke.
Project description:Brain microenvironment plays an important role in neurodevelopment and function, where extracellular matrix (ECM) components and soluble factors modulate cellular features, as migration, proliferation survival and neuronal function. Disruption of microenvironment’s homeostasis is often related to pathological conditions. Here, we addressed the microenvironment remodeling occurring during in vitro differentiation of human neural stem cells (NSC) in a three-dimensional (3D) culture system. Proteome and transcriptome dynamics revealed significant changes namely at cell membrane and ECM composition during 3D differentiation, diverging significantly from the profile of monolayer cultures (2D). Structural proteoglycans typically found in brain ECM were enriched during 3D differentiation, while 2D cultures presented increased levels of basement membrane constituents (e.g., laminins, collagens and fibrillins). Moreover, higher expression levels of synaptic machinery and ion transport machinery constituents observed for 3D cultures, both at mRNA and protein levels, suggested a higher degree of neuronal maturation and organization relative to 2D differentiation. This work demonstrated that neural cellular and extracellular features can be recapitulated in the presented 3D neural cell model, highlighting its value to address molecular defects in cell-ECM interactions associated with neurological disorders. <html><head>Associated GEO dataset is available at</head><body><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/query/acc.cgi">GSE102139</a></body></html>
Project description:In our study,we examined the effects of naloxone (an opioid receptor antagonist) on NSCs (neural stem cells) proliferation and differenntiation. Briefly, we treated NSCs with naloxone in the proliferation and differentiation system. Naloxone was shown to acclerate NSCs proliferation and increase neural differentiation.To investigate how DNA methylation is affected upon naloxone treatment, cells cultured 3 days with naloxone and cells differentiated with naloxone at D2 were collected, genomic DNA was extracted and subjected to RRBS analysis.
Project description:Murine ES-derived neural stem cells (NSC) were not irradiated (ctrl) or irradiated with 10Gy and cultured for 7 days (irr). The goal was to study the gene expression changes in NSC at d7 after irradiation.
Project description:Murine ES-derived neural stem cells (NSC) were not irradiated (ctrl) or irradiated with 10Gy and cultured for 7 days (irr). The goal was to study the gene expression changes in NSC at d7 after irradiation. Total RNA was extracted from 4 ctrl and 4 irr samples (biological quadruplicates).
Project description:DNA methylation is known to regulate cell differentiation and neuronal function in vivo. Here we examined whether deficiency of a de novo DNA methyltransferase, Dnmt3a, affects in vitro differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) to neuronal and glial cell lineages. We found that Dnmt3a-/- neural stem cells (NSCs) derived from mESCs have globally reduced methylcytosine levels and precociously differentiates into astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, consistent with our previous findings in the more severely hypomethylated Dnmt1-/- NSCs. Moreover, Dnmt3a-/- NSC proliferation rate was significantly increased when compared to control. Thus, our work revealed a novel role for Dnmt3a in regulating both timing of neural cell differentiation and cell proliferation in NSCs. Dnmt3a KO vs. WT neural stem cells; 3 biological replicates of each.