Inducing Effects of Zhichan Soup on Neuron Stem Cell Differentiation

This is an experiment to observe the inducing effects of Zhichan Soup on neuron stem cell (NSC) differentiation. NSCs were divided into three groups. The normal group was treated with the normal medium. The herb group was treated with the Zhichan Soup-medicated sera. The control group was treated with the normal rat sera. After the 21-day treatment, TH and DAT proteins were checked by immunocytochemistry, and Shh, Ptx3 and Nurrl mRNA were checked by RT-PCR. Results of this experiment indicated that neither TH nor DAT proteins were found in any groups. Compared with other groups, the Zhichan Soup group had registered a significantly enhanced expression of Shh, Ptx3 and Nurrl mRNA. It is believed that the Zhichan Soup-medicated serum may be able to improve the expression of Shh, Ptx3 and Nurrl in a micro-environment to facilitate NSCs to differentiate into dopamine neurons.