Effect of oxidative preconditioning on neural progenitor cells

Neural progenitor cells (NPCs) have drawn attention because they offer possible treatment for neurodegenerative disorders in the form of regenerative therapy or transplantation. NPCs adapt and change in response to the cues in the pathological environment. We assessed the effect of pre-exposure to non-cytotoxic levels of oxidative stress, a common pathogenic factor in a number of neurological disorders, on the cell viability and neurosphere morphology of NPCs derived from the periventricular zone of mice brain. Neural progenitor cell viability and neurosphere morphology (neurosphere number, size and chain migration) were assessed in response to cytotoxic levels of oxidative stress in the presence or absence of preconditioning with non-cytotoxic doses of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Preconditioning with non-cytotoxic levels of H2O2 provided significant protection against subsequent exposure to lethal doses of H2O2. Preconditioning also modulated alteration in the neurosphere morphology in response to oxidative stress. Oxidative stress increased chain migration and neurosphere size while decreasing neurosphere numbers, specially in the cultures that were preconditioned with higher doses of H2O2. Non-cytotoxic exposure to oxidative stress can evoke endogenous cytoprotection in NPCs. Redox signaling plays a role in other cellular functions of NPCs, namely the chain migration of NPCs from neurospheres, perhaps as a result of its effect on cell differentiation.