Immunocytochemistry in vitro characterization of neurons derived from fetal stem cells of the ventral bulb and telencephalic vesicles

• Grant number: 16/08698-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2016
• End date: July 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Guilherme Alves Lepski
• Grantee: Fernando Onuchic
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FM). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

For a long time it was believed that the central nervous system was a completely still part of the organism, unable to perform any adaptation to severe injuries with extense cell loss. However, this view has been changing over the past decades, as experiments increasingly start to show the occurrence of adult neurogenesis and restoration of the CNS. The existence of neurogenic niche in the human brain, which are capable of generating mature neurons in various physiological and pathological situations, has been verified. Therefore, cell therapy with stem cells, whether fetal or adult, is becoming a promising area in medicine. However, much remains to beunderstood about the mechanisms of differentiation and maturation of these cells,so that they can be effectively applied in clinical trials. The main goal of this experiment is to understand whether the origin of fetal neural stem cells, which are likely to be used in cell therapy, is determinant in its final phenotype, after in vitro differentiation. To accomplish this, we will extract fetal neural stem cells, from the ventral bulb and telencephalic vesicles of rats, grow them in vitro and submit them to differentiation. Then, by immunocytochemistry techniques, we will analyze the amount of mature neurons that were formed, the phenotype of cells obtained and the type of neurotransmitter synthesized. We then hope to discover the neurogenic potential of these cells in vitro, as well as a possible influence of the extraction location on their final phenotype.