title: Methylene blue promotes quiescence of rat neural progenitor cells.
abstract: Neural stem cell-based treatment holds a new therapeutic opportunity for neurodegenerative disorders. Here, we investigated the effect of methylene blue on proliferation and differentiation of rat neural progenitor cells (NPCs) both in vitro and in vivo. We found that methylene blue inhibited proliferation and promoted quiescence of NPCs in vitro without affecting committed neuronal differentiation. Consistently, intracerebroventricular infusion of methylene blue significantly inhibited NPC proliferation at the subventricular zone (SVZ). Methylene blue inhibited mTOR signaling along with down-regulation of cyclins in NPCs in vitro and in vivo. In summary, our study indicates that methylene blue may delay NPC senescence through enhancing NPCs quiescence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of North Texas Health Science Center Fort Worth, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Luokun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of North Texas Health Science Center Fort Worth, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Gourav R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Choudhury
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of North Texas Health Science Center Fort Worth, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Jixian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of North Texas Health Science Center Fort Worth, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of North Texas Health Science Center Fort Worth, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Ran
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Neurosurgical Institute, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Chun-Li
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of North Texas Health Science Center Fort Worth, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yorio
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of North Texas Health Science Center Fort Worth, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Kunlin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of North Texas Health Science Center Fort Worth, TX, USA ; Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Neurosurgical Institute, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Shao-Hua
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Yang
keywords: methylene blue; neural progenitor cell; neurogenesis; proliferation; quiescence