Figure 3

Nestin-positive MSC conditioned medium act on the GFAP-positive cell death but not on cell proliferation. (A) Characterization of committed cell types in proliferating neurospheres in presence of EGF. We observed that 14.4 ± 7.1%, 7.1± 4.1% and 3.4 ± 1.6% of cells were respectively GFAP-, Tuj1- and O4-positive (these data were obtained by absolute counts on 1576 cells). (B-C) The proliferative capacity of the differentiating neurosphere-derived cells placed in npMSC conditioned medium, nnMSC conditioned medium and in control medium (DEM/F12 + B27) was compared. BrdU incorporation was performed after 48 hours and 4 days in differentiating conditions. Double labelling GFAP-, Tuj1- and O4 with BrdU were performed. The BrdU incorporation by differentiating neurosphere-derived cells placed in the various conditions did not shown significant differences (Statistical test ANOVA, P > 0.05). (D-E) The cell death quantified by propidium iodide incorporation and counting was analysed after 48 hours and 4 days in differentiating conditions and in GFAP-, Tuj1- and O4-positive cells. After 48 hours, a significant decrease of the number of GFAP-positive cells which have incorporated the propidium iodide is observed (***Student T test, p < 0.0001). However, no significant increase of cell death was observed in O4- and Tuj1-positive cell population (Student T test, p > 0.05). After 4 days of differentiation, no difference in cell death is observed whatever the cell type or the culture condition.