Differentiation of rat neural stem cells and its relationship with environment.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the differentiation fates of rat neural stem cells (NSCs) in different environmental conditions. METHODS: NSCs derived from 16-day-old rat embryo were proliferated in vitro and implanted into the brain of rats with intra-cerebral hemorrhage. At the same time some NSCs were co-cultured in vitro with Schwann cells derived from newborn rats. MAP-2, GFAP and GalC (which are the specific markers of neural cells, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes respectively), BrdU and beta-tubulin were detected by immunohistochemical and immunofluorescent methods. RESULTS: BrdU positive cells that were implanted into the brain distributed around the hemorrhagic area. The majority of them were GFAP positive astrocytes while a few of them were beta-tubulin positive neural cells or GalC positive oligodendrocytes. After being co-cultured with Schwann cells in vitro, NSCs are predominately shown beta-tubulin and MAP-2 positive, and only a minority of them were GFAP or GalC positive. CONCLUSIONS: The hemorrhagic environment in vivo induces NSCs to differentiate mainly into astrocytes while co-culture with Schwann cells in vitro induce the majority of NSCs to differentiate into neural cells.