title: Tenuigenin promotes proliferation and differentiation of hippocampal neural stem cells.
abstract: The present study was to investigate the influence of tenuigenin, an active ingredient of Polygala tenuifolia Willd, on the proliferation and differentiation of hippocampal neural stem cells in vitro. Tenuigenin was added to a neurosphere culture and neurosphere growth was measured using MTT assay. The influence of tenuigenin on the proliferation of neural progenitors was examined by Clone forming assay and BrdU detection. In addition, the differentiation of neural stem cells was compared using immunocytochemistry for β III-tubulin and GFAP. The results showed that addition of tenuigenin to the neural stem cell medium increased the number of newly formed neurospheres. More neurons were also obtained when tenuigenin was added in the differentiation medium. These findings suggest that tenuigenin is involved in regulating the proliferation and differentiation of hippocampal neural stem cells. This result may be one of the underlying reasons for tenuigenin's nootropic and anti-aging effects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Beijing 100053, People's Republic of China. cyj0504@sina.com.cn
authors.forename: Yujing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xiaobo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Wenqiang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Ningqun
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D058953:Neural Stem Cells / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; C493220:tenuigenin