Neural Regeneration Research ›› 2013, Vol. 8 ›› Issue (28): 2656-2665.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1673-5374.2013.28.008

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Two outward potassium current types are expressed during the neural differentiation of neural stem cells

Ruiying Bai1, Guowei Gao2, Ying Xing1, 3, Hong Xue4   

  1. 1 Department of Physiology and Neurobiology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang 453003, Henan Province, China
    2 Department of Radiotherapy, Center Hospital of Xinxiang, Xinxiang 453003, Henan Province, China
    3 Stem Cell Research Center, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, Henan Province, China
    4 Basic Medical Sciences of Henan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou 450008, Henan Province, China
  • Received:2013-02-07 Revised:2013-06-08 Online:2013-10-05 Published:2013-10-05
  • Contact: Ying Xing, Professor, Doctoral supervisor, Department of Physiology and Neurobiology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang 453003, Henan Province, China; Stem Cell Research Center, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, Henan Province, China, xingy@zzu.edu.cn.
  • About author:Ruiying Bai, Master, Lecturer.
  • Supported by:

    This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 31000514, and the Scientific Research Project for Talent with High Education of Xinxiang Medical University, No. 2007502002.

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Abstract:

The electrophysiological properties of potassium ion channels are regarded as a basic index for determining the functional differentiation of neural stem cells. In this study, neural stem cells from the hippocampus of newborn rats were induced to differentiate with neurotrophic growth factor, and the electrophysiological properties of the voltage-gated potassium ion channels were observed. Immunofluorescence staining showed that the rapidly proliferating neural stem cells formed spheres in vitro that expressed high levels of nestin. The differentiated neurons were shown to express neuron-specific enolase. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that the neural stem cells were actively dividing and the percentage of cells in the S + G2/M phase was high. However, the ratio of cells in the S + G2/M phase decreased obviously as differentiation proceeded. Whole-cell patch-clamp re-cordings revealed apparent changes in potassium ion currents as the neurons differentiated. The potassium ion currents consisted of one transient outward potassium ion current and one delayed rectifier potassium ion current, which were blocked by 4-aminopyridine and tetraethylammonium, respectively. The experimental findings indicate that neural stem cells from newborn rat hippo-campus could be cultured and induced to differentiate into functional neurons under defined condi-tions in vitro. The differentiated neurons expressed two types of outward potassium ion currents similar to those of mature neurons in vivo.

Key words: neural regeneration, neural stem cells, hippocampus, proliferation, differentiation, neurons, patch-clamp, electrophysiological properties, transient outward potassium ion current, delayed rec-tifier potassium ion current, inactivation, nestin, neuron-specific enolase, grants-supported paper, neuroregeneration