High neuronal/astroglial differentiation plasticity of adult rat hippocampal neural stem/progenitor cells in response to the effects of embryonic and adult cerebrospinal fluids

Hippocampal neural stem/progenitor cells (hipp-NS/PCs) of the adult mammalian brain are important sources of neuronal and gial cell production. In this study, the main goal is to investigate the plasticity of these cells in neuronal/astroglial differentiations. To this end, the differentiation of the hipp-NS/PCs isolated from 3-month-old Wistar rats was investigated in response to the embryonic cerebrospinal fluid (E-CSF) including E13.5, E17-CSF and the adult cerebrospinal fluid (A-CSF), all extracted from rats. CSF samples were selected based on their effects on cell behavioral parameters. Primary cell culture was performed in the presence of either normal or high levels of KCL in a culture medium. High levels of KCL cause cell depolarization, and thus the activation of quiescent NSCs. Results from immunocytochemistry (ICC) and semi-quantitative RT-PCR (sRT-PCR) techniques showed that in ECSF- treated groups, neuronal differentiation increased (E17>E13.5). In contrast, A-CSF decreased and increased neuronal and astroglial differentiations, respectively. Cell survivability and/or proliferation (S/P), evaluated by an MTT assay, increased by E13.5 CSF, but decreased by both E17 CSF and A-CSF. Based on the results, it is finally concluded that adult rat hippocampal proliferative cells are not restricted progenitors but rather show high plasticity in neuronal/astroglial differentiation according to the effects of CSF samples. In addition, using high concentrations of KCL in the primary cell culture led to an increase in the number of NSCs, which inturn resulted in the increase in neuronal or astroglial differentiations after CSF treatment.