Long-distance effects of inflammation on differentiation of adult spinal cord neural stem/progenitor cells

•NPCs derived from NASC parts of EAE rats are affected by distant inflammation.•NPCs from NASC are less prone to generate oligodendrocytes than control NPCs.•NPCs from NASC are more neurogenic than NPCs from control rats.

Studies in multiple sclerosis have demonstrated that normal-appearing white matter can harbor pathological changes. Here we investigated the effects of neuroinflammation, modeled by experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) on neural stem/progenitor cells (NPCs) located distally to inflammatory foci. We observed that EAE-derived NPCs had a lower capacity to differentiate into oligodendrocytes and an increased neuronal differentiation than control NPCs. This finding was corroborated with changes in gene expression of early differentiation genes. We conclude that inflammation has a long range effect on the NPCs in the diseased central nervous system, reaching NPC populations outside the lesion sites.

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