Department of Biochemistry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T. Hong Kong, P.R. China.
Chembiochem. 2011 Feb 11;12(3):449-56. doi: 10.1002/cbic.201000570. Epub 2011 Jan 4.
Natural medicinal materials are a significant resource for the identification of compounds with specific biological properties. In this study, we employed multipotent C17.2 neural stem cells as a model for screening natural compounds that possess neural differentiation-inducing properties. We show here for the first time that, out of the 67 compounds tested, the flavonoid baicalin is a potent differentiation-inducing agent. Baicalin increased the number of cells bearing extended neurites and the expression levels of a number of neuronal markers. Importantly, baicalin promoted the expression of several key neurogenic transcriptional factors. Moreover, we demonstrated that baicalin enhanced the phosphorylation/activation of Erk1/2. Inhibition of Erk1/2 activation by the MEK inhibitor U0126 attenuated the neuronal differentiation-inducing effect of baicalin. Taken together, our findings suggest that baicalin induces neuronal differentiation of C17.2 neural stem cells and that this is mediated by activation of Erk1/2. Our work lays the foundation for exploring baicalin for the promotion of neural regeneration after injury or disease.
天然药材是鉴定具有特定生物特性化合物的重要资源。在这项研究中，我们采用多能 C17.2 神经干细胞作为筛选具有神经分化诱导特性的天然化合物的模型。我们首次表明，在所测试的 67 种化合物中，黄酮类化合物黄芩苷是一种有效的诱导分化剂。黄芩苷增加了具有延伸神经突的细胞数量，并提高了多种神经元标记物的表达水平。重要的是，黄芩苷促进了几个关键神经发生转录因子的表达。此外，我们证明黄芩苷增强了 Erk1/2 的磷酸化/激活。MEK 抑制剂 U0126 抑制 Erk1/2 的激活，减弱了黄芩苷的诱导神经元分化作用。总之，我们的研究结果表明，黄芩苷诱导 C17.2 神经干细胞的神经元分化，这是通过激活 Erk1/2 介导的。我们的工作为探索黄芩苷在促进损伤或疾病后神经再生方面的应用奠定了基础。
