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BDNF promotes human neural stem cell growth via GSK-3β-mediated crosstalk with the wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway

  • Jin-Wei Yang
  • , Wei Ma
  • , Tao Luo
  • , Dong-Yan Wang
  • , Jian-Jun Lu
  • , Xing-Tong Li
  • , Tong-Tong Wang
  • , Jing-Ru Cheng
  • , Jin Ru
  • , Yan Gao
  • , Jia Liu
  • , Zhang Liang
  • , Zhi-Yong Yang
  • , Ping Dai
  • , Yong-Sheng He
  • , Xiao-Bing Guo
  • , Jian-Hui Guo
  • , Li-Yan Li

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays important roles in neural stem cell (NSC) growth. In this study, we investigated whether BDNF exerts its neurotrophic effects through the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in human embryonic spinal cord NSCs (hESC-NSCs) in vitro. We found an increase in hESC-NSC growth by BDNF overexpression. Furthermore, expression of Wnt1, Frizzled1 and Dsh was upregulated, whereas GSK-3β expression was downregulated. In contrast, hESC-NSC growth was decreased by BDNF RNA interference. BDNF, Wnt1 and β-catenin components were all downregulated, whereas GSK-3β was upregulated. Next, we treated hESC-NSCs with 6-bromoindirubin-3′-oxime (BIO), a small molecule inhibitor of GSK-3β. BIO reduced the effects of BDNF upregulation/downregulation on the cell number, soma size and differentiation, and suppressed the effect of BDNF modulation on the Wnt signaling pathway. Our findings suggest that BDNF promotes hESC-NSC growth in vitro through crosstalk with the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, and that this interaction may be mediated by GSK-3β.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)19-32
Number of pages14
JournalGrowth Factors
Volume34
Issue number1-2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 4 May 2016

Keywords

  • BDNF
  • human neural stem cell
  • GSK-3beta
  • Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway

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