Investigating the Effect of Lithium on Differentiation of Epidermal Neural Crest Stem Cell into Neural Cells

Due to the complexity of conditions in neurodegenerative diseases and also key challenge for how to regenerate neurons after injury, combination therapy including cell therapy and drug therapy is important as a new therapeutic strategy. Epidermal neural crest stem cells (EPI-NCSCs) are as one of the best option in cell therapy for various neurological diseases, including spinal cord injury (SCI). In this study, the effect of lithium carbonate with considering of their effects on cellular signaling pathways and neuroprotective/ neurogenesis properties were investigated on expression of neurotrophic factors BDNF, NGF and GDNF in EPI-NCSCs. Materials and Methods: After EPINCSCsisolation of hair follicle bulge and culture cells in collagen-coated culture plates (1mg/ml) (collagen extracted from rat tail at Kharazmi University).Then, the cells were treated with different concentrations of Lithium carbonate (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6, 1.8, 2 mM), after 72 hours trial doses was selected by MTT assay. EPI-NCSCs were treated with selective concentrations for 7 days. During this time, environment of samples was renewed to enhance the effectiveness of the drugs. Then the effect of drug on expression of selective factors was investigated with Real Time PCR. Results: Obtained results indicated an enhancement in the expression of BDNF, NGF and GDNF in treated cells in a dose-dependent pattern (*p<0.05, **p<0.01 and ***p<0.001). Conclusion: The results in this study confirmed the neuroprotective/neurogenesis effects of Lithium carbonate, in addition have shown this drug can be used to increase EPI-NCSCs differentiation potential into neural cells in combination therapy of neurodegenerative diseases such as SCI.