Neural Regeneration Research ›› 2015, Vol. 10 ›› Issue (12): 1976-1981.doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.172315

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Lycium barbarum polysaccharides promotes in vivo proliferation of adult rat retinal progenitor cells

Hua Wang1, #, Benson Wui-Man Lau2, #, Ning-li Wang1, *, Si-ying Wang1, Qing-jun Lu1, Raymond Chuen-Chung Chang3, 5, 7, Kwok-fai So3, 4, 5, 6, 7, *   

  1. 1 Beijing Tongren Eye Center, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University; Beijing Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences Key Laboratory, Beijing, China
    2 Department of Rehabilitation Science, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
    3 Department of Anatomy, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
    4 Department of Ophthalmology, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
    5 The State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
    6 GMH Institute of Central Nervous System Regeneration, Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China
    7 Research Centre of Heart, Brain, Hormone and Healthy Aging, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
  • Received:2015-10-30 Online:2015-12-30 Published:2015-12-30
  • Contact: Kwok-fai So or Ning-li Wang,hrmaskf@hku.hk or wningli@trhos.com.

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Abstract:

Lycium barbarum is a widely used Chinese herbal medicine prescription for protection of optic nerve. However, it remains unclear regarding the effects of Lycium barbarum polysaccharides, the main component of Lycium barbarum, on in vivo proliferation of adult ciliary body cells. In this study, adult rats were intragastrically administered low- and high-dose Lycium barbarum polysaccharides (1 and 10 mg/kg) for 35 days and those intragastrically administered phosphate buffered saline served as controls. The number of Ki-67-positive cells in rat ciliary body in the Lycium barbarum polysaccharides groups, in particular low-dose Lycium barbarum polysaccharides group, was significantly greater than that in the phosphate buffered saline group. Ki-67-positive rat ciliary body cells expressed nestin but they did not express glial fibrillary acidic protein. These findings suggest that Lycium barbarum polysaccharides can promote the proliferation of adult rat retinal progenitor cells and the proliferated cells present with neuronal phenotype.

Key words: nerve regeneration, traditional Chinese medicine, Lycium barbarum polysaccharides, Lycium barbarum (wolfberry), retinal disease, neurogenesis, adult, neural regeneration