PMID- 28785204 OWN - NLM STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE LR - 20201001 IS - 1662-5102 (Print) IS - 1662-5102 (Electronic) IS - 1662-5102 (Linking) VI - 11 DP - 2017 TI - Cell-Cell Connection Enhances Proliferation and Neuronal Differentiation of Rat Embryonic Neural Stem/Progenitor Cells. PG - 200 LID - 10.3389/fncel.2017.00200 [doi] LID - 200 AB - Cell-cell interaction as one of the niche signals plays an important role in the balance of stem cell quiescence and proliferation or differentiation. In order to address the effect and the possible mechanisms of cell-cell connection on neural stem/progenitor cells (NSCs/NPCs) proliferation and differentiation, upon passaging, NSCs/NPCs were either dissociated into single cell as usual (named Group I) or mechanically triturated into a mixture of single cell and small cell clusters containing direct cell-cell connections (named Group II). Then the biological behaviors including proliferation and differentiation of NSCs/NPCs were observed. Moreover, the expression of gap junction channel, neurotrophic factors and the phosphorylation status of MAPK signals were compared to investigate the possible mechanisms. Our results showed that, in comparison to the counterparts in Group I, NSCs/NPCs in Group II survived well with preferable neuronal differentiation. In coincidence with this, the expression of connexin 45 (Cx45), as well as brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and neurotrophin 3 (NT-3) in Group II were significantly higher than those in Group I. Phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and JNK2 were significantly upregulated in Group II too, while no change was found about p38. Furthermore, the differences of NSCs/NPCs biological behaviors between Group I and II completely disappeared when ERK and JNK phosphorylation were inhibited. These results indicated that cell-cell connection in Group II enhanced NSCs/NPCs survival, proliferation and neuronal differentiation through upregulating the expression of gap junction and neurotrophic factors. MAPK signals- ERK and JNK might contribute to the enhancement. Efforts for maintaining the direct cell-cell connection are worth making to provide more favorable niches for NSCs/NPCs survival, proliferation and neuronal differentiation. FAU - Jiao, Qian AU - Jiao Q AD - Institute of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science CenterXi'an, China. AD - Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityBeijing, China. AD - Department of Physiology, Medical College of Qingdao UniversityQingdao, China. FAU - Li, Xingxing AU - Li X AD - Institute of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science CenterXi'an, China. AD - Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityBeijing, China. FAU - An, Jing AU - An J AD - Institute of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science CenterXi'an, China. AD - Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityBeijing, China. FAU - Zhang, Zhichao AU - Zhang Z AD - Institute of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science CenterXi'an, China. AD - Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityBeijing, China. FAU - Chen, Xinlin AU - Chen X AD - Institute of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science CenterXi'an, China. AD - Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityBeijing, China. FAU - Tan, Jing AU - Tan J AD - Institute of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science CenterXi'an, China. AD - Department of Anesthesiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science CenterXi'an, China. FAU - Zhang, Pengbo AU - Zhang P AD - Department of Anesthesiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Health Science Center, Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityXi'an, China. FAU - Lu, Haixia AU - Lu H AD - Institute of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science CenterXi'an, China. AD - Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityBeijing, China. FAU - Liu, Yong AU - Liu Y AD - Institute of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science CenterXi'an, China. AD - Key Laboratory of Environment and Genes Related to Diseases, Ministry of Education of China, Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityBeijing, China. LA - eng PT - Journal Article DEP - 20170721 PL - Switzerland TA - Front Cell Neurosci JT - Frontiers in cellular neuroscience JID - 101477935 PMC - PMC5519523 OTO - NOTNLM OT - MAPK OT - NSCs/NPCs OT - cell-cell connection OT - neuronal differentiation OT - proliferation EDAT- 2017/08/09 06:00 MHDA- 2017/08/09 06:01 PMCR- 2017/01/01 CRDT- 2017/08/09 06:00 PHST- 2017/01/12 00:00 [received] PHST- 2017/06/26 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2017/08/09 06:00 [entrez] PHST- 2017/08/09 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2017/08/09 06:01 [medline] PHST- 2017/01/01 00:00 [pmc-release] AID - 10.3389/fncel.2017.00200 [doi] PST - epublish SO - Front Cell Neurosci. 2017 Jul 21;11:200. doi: 10.3389/fncel.2017.00200. eCollection 2017.