Effect Of Erythropoietin On The Differentiation Of Adult Spinal Cord-derived Neural Stem Cells In Vitro

Objective To investigate the promotion of the differentiation of erythropoietin on the the neural stem cells(NSCs) in vitro from spinal cord of SD rats,in order to provide experimental basis for the treatment of spinal cord injury by transplantating neural stem cells.Methods The spinal cord were isolated and cultured in serum-free suspension, then a differentiation suspension cultured in serum culture medium for 7 days were applied to the NSCs.Nestin was used to detect the NSCs,the differentiation ratio of NSCs into neurons and glia cells was detected by immunofluorescent histochemistry for microtubule-associated protein 2(MAP2) and glia fibrillary acid protein(GFAP).After obtained the third passage(P3) of NSCs, EPO was added to the medium on a final concentration of 10 IU/ml,control group without EPO, the differentiation proportion of MAP2-positive cells to total cells was identified by immunofluorescence staining.Results The results showed that the separated cells from spinal cord of SD rats formed neurospheres, in which nestin-positive cells were detected. GFAP and MAP2-positive cells were detected after differentiation culture.The proportion of MAP2-positive cells in the EPO group showed an significant compared with the comtrol group(p<0.05).Conclusion The results indicate that NSCs can be obtained from the separated spinal cord of SD rats; EPO can increase the differentiation rate of NSCs into neurons.