Effect of low energy He-Ne laser radiation on microtubule-associated protein 2 expression in cultured rat hippocampal neurons

Abstract

Objective To study the effect of low energy He-Ne laser radiation on microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) expression in cultured rat hippocampal neurons.Methods Neonatal rat hippocampal neurons were isolated and cultured in vitro.After 14 days culture with or without low energy He-Ne laser radiation,neurons were taken out; MAP2 expression was shown by using immunohistochemistry method and MAP2-positive neurons were counted on the photographs taken under light microscope.Results The amount of MAP2-positive neurons in laser radiation group was (15.85 ± 2.79)/high power field and was much higher than that in control group (9.23 ± 2.56).Positive expression neurons had clear contours.The difference of MAP2 expression between laser radiation group and control group was statistically significant (P ＜ 0.01).Expression of MAP2 was up-regulated after laser radiation in cultured neurons.Conclusions He-Ne laser radiation may up-regulate the expression of MAP2 in cultured neurons. Key words: He-Ne laser; Cultured neuron, in vitro; Microtubule-associated protein 2