Extensive Neuronal Differentiation of Human Neural Stem Cell Grafts in Adult Rat Spinal Cord
Figure 1
In Vitro Differentiation of Human NSCs Used for Transplantation
(A) The vast majority of cells express the NSC-specific marker nestin (red) immediately before grafting. The DNA dye DAPI (blue) was used to reveal all cells in culture.
(B and C) At 14 days within the differentiation phase (i.e., after bFGF removal), ~ 50% of cells acquire MAP2 immunoreactivity and neuronal cytology, with characteristic processes (red, B). A smaller number of cells differentiate into GFAP (+) astrocytes (green, C).
(D) Real-time RT-PCR data showing increased neurotrophic factor and NRG expression in the course of NSC differentiation in vitro. The number of days on top of the columns is the days NSCs have been in a phase of differentiation (after withdrawal of fibroblast growth factor). Results are expressed as fold increases compared to levels expressed at the proliferation phase (day 0), the latter values designated as 1. Data represent average ± standard deviation of triplicate measurements of a representative cell culture sample at a given time point. The experiment was repeated twice with different sets of cell samples and yielded very similar results.
Scale bars: 50 μm.