Effect of biphasic electrical stimulation on the proliferation and differentiation of olfactory bulb neural precursor cells

Abstract

Objective To explore the effect of biphasic electrical stimulation (BES) on the proliferation and differentiation of rats olfactory bulb neural precursor cells (OB NPCs). Methods OB NPCs of one day old neonatal rats were isolated, cultured, passaged and identified. They were randomly divided into a control group and an electrical stimulation (ES) group. The OB NPCs in the ES group were exposed to BES with a 50 mV/mm or 100 mV/mm electric field for 24 hours with a pulse width of 8 ms, while the control group was not given electrical stimulation. The immunofluorescent technique and 3(4, 5 dimethythiazol-2-y1)-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) colorimetric assay were used to assess the cells′ proliferation and differentiation. Results The cell viability and the number of glial fibrillary acidic protein positive cellsin the ES group were significantly higher than in the control group. Conclusions BES may be used as an auxiliary technique for improving cell survival and differentiation in stem cell-based transplantation therapy as it can promote proliferation and differentiation, at least of OB NPCs. Key words: Electrical stimulation; Olfactory bulb; Neural stem cells; Proliferation; Differentiation; Neural repair; Neural regeneration; Nerve injury