Extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields enhance the proliferation and differentiation of neural progenitor cells cultured from ischemic brains.
In the mammalian brain, neurogenesis persists throughout the embryonic period and adulthood in the subventricular zone of the lateral ventricle and the granular zone (dentate gyrus) of the hippocampus. Newborn neural progenitor cells (NPCs) in the two regions play a critical role in structural and functional plasticity and neural regeneration after brain injury. Previous studies have reported that extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMF) could promote osteogenesis, angiogenesis, and cardiac stem cells' differentiation, which indicates that ELF-EMF might be an effective tool for regenerative therapy. The present studies were carried out to examine the effects of ELF-EMF on hippocampal NPCs cultured from embryonic and adult ischemic brains. We found that exposure to ELF-EMF (50 Hz, 0.4 mT) significantly enhanced the proliferation capability both in embryonic NPCs and in ischemic NPCs. Neuronal differentiation was also enhanced after 7 days of cumulative ELF-EMF exposure, whereas glial differentiation was not influenced markedly. The expression of phosphorylated Akt increased during the proliferation process when ischemic NPCs were exposed to ELF-EMF. However, blockage of the Akt pathway abolished the ELF-EMF-induced proliferation of ischemic NPCs. These data show that ELF-EMF promotes neurogenesis of ischemic NPCs and suggest that this effect may occur through the Akt pathway.Video abstract, Supplemental Digital Content 1, http://links.lww.com/WNR/A347.
aState Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, Shanghai Medical College and Institutes of Brain Science, Fudan University bBiophysics Laboratory, Physics Department, East China Normal University, Shanghai cAsialand Bio-Med Technology Co. Ltd, Changzhou, China.
Yannan
Y
Cheng
Yiqin
Y
Dai
Ximin
X
Zhu
Haochen
H
Xu
Ping
P
Cai
Ruohong
R
Xia
Lizhen
L
Mao
Bing-Qiao
BQ
Zhao
Wenying
W
Fan
D000818:Animals; D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000528:radiation effects*; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000528:radiation effects*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian; D020244:Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D058953:Neural Stem Cells / Q000528:radiation effects*; D010766:Phosphorylation / Q000528:radiation effects; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000378:metabolism
D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine