ABSTRACT
Objective The aim is to observe the role and mechanism of estradiol ( E2 ) on the proliferation of rat hippocampal neural stem cells ( NSCs ) .Methods Twenty hippocampi from embryonic 17-day ( E17 ) SD rats were dissociated and plated into culture flasks with NSCs specific medium containing different concentrations of estradiol .The proliferation and the vitality of NSCs were detected by immunofluorescence against BrdU and MTT assay .The expression of estrogen receptors ( ERαand ERβ) was measured by immunofluorescence staining combined with Nestin double labeling . Results BrdU and MTT assay results showed that the cell number increased when the concentration of estradiol increased from 10 -10 to 10 -8 mol/L.The number of cell proliferation and the viability of cells were best at the concentration of 10 -8 mol/L compared to the other groups .However, when the estradiol concentration was increased from 10-8 to 10 -6 mol/L, the cell proliferative capacity declined gradually .Double immunofluorescence labeling showed that the two types of estrogen receptors ( ERαand ERβ) were expressed in the cultured hippocampal NSCs .Conclusion Estradiol promotes the proliferation of hippocampal NSCs in a certain concentration range , and ERαand ERβmay be involved in the estradiol-induced proliferation .