Effects of estrogens on proliferation and differentiation of neural stem/progenitor cells

• Published in: Biomedical Research 2008, Vol.29(3), pp.163-170
• Main Authors: OKADA, Makiko, MURASE, Koichi, MAKINO, Akihisa, NAKAJIMA, Mitsunari, KAKU, Teppei, FURUKAWA, Shoei, FURUKAWA, Yoshiko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Base Sequence; Benzhydryl Compounds; Cell Differentiation - drug effects; Cell Proliferation - drug effects; Cells, Cultured; DNA Primers; Estradiol - pharmacology; Immunohistochemistry; Phenols - pharmacology; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Stem Cells - cytology; Stem Cells - drug effects; Telencephalon - cytology; Telencephalon - drug effects
• ISSN: 0388-6107; 1880-313X
• DOI: 10.2220/biomedres.29.163

We investigated the effect of the female hormone 17β-estradiol (E2) and the hormone mimic bisphenol A (BPA) on the proliferation and differentiation of rat neural stem/progenitors cells (NS/PCs) cultured from the telencephalon of embryonic day-15 rats. Basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2) is a potent mitogen of early generated NS/PCs, and is used for the proliferation of NS/PCs in vitro. Administration of E2 or BPA alone to the NS/PCs stimulated their proliferation in the absence but not in the presence of FGF-2. E2- or BPA-treatment increased the ratio of the oligodendrocytes generated from the NS/PCs to total cells; however, this ratio did not change when the cells were stimulated with platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), a mitogen for oligodendrocyte precursors, or with neurotrophin-3, an oligogenic factor for glial progenitor cells. These results suggest that estrogens would influence the fate of NS/PCs when the cells are poorly supplied with mitogens or differentiation factors during the early stages of neurogenesis.