title: Promotion of rat brain-derived progenitor cell neurogenesis by liquiritigenin treatment: underlying mechanisms.
abstract: The purpose of the present study was to determine if liquiritigenin, which is a newly discovered estrogen receptor beta (ERbeta) agonist, can induce differentiation of brain-derived progenitor cells from rats and to investigate the mechanisms involved. Treatment of brain-derived progenitor cell cultures with liquiritigenin increased the number of cells that differentiated into neurons; but the treatment did not alter the growth of astrocytes. Furthermore, treatment with liquiritigenin decreased Notch-2 mRNA and protein expression, which could promote the growth of new neurons. Using RNA interference (RNAi), we determined that inhibition of Notch-2 by liquiritigenin was probably ERbeta-dependent. These findings highlight the possible role of liquiritigenin in the repair and regeneration of injured brain tissue of patients with neurodegenerative diseases and support further investigation of the Notch-2 signaling pathway using ERbeta agonists.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Physics and Engineering, Department of Engineering Physics, TsingHua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Rui Ting
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Li Bo
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.forename: Jie Ying
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Qiu Jun
authors.initials: QJ
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D020847:Estrogen Receptor Modulators / Q000494:pharmacology*; D047629:Estrogen Receptor beta / Q000819:agonists / Q000187:drug effects; D044950:Flavanones / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000187:drug effects; D055495:Neurogenesis / Q000187:drug effects*; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D034622:RNA Interference; D051381:Rats; D051883:Receptor, Notch2 / Q000096:biosynthesis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D020847:Estrogen Receptor Modulators; D047629:Estrogen Receptor beta; D044950:Flavanones; D051883:Receptor, Notch2; C083152:liquiritigenin