AUTHOR=Xie Luokun , Choudhury Gourav R. , Wang Jixian , Park Yong , Liu Ran , Yuan Fang , Zhang Chun-Li , Yorio Thomas , Jin Kunlin , Yang Shao-Hua 

TITLE=Methylene blue promotes quiescence of rat neural progenitor cells

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2014

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fncel.2014.00315

DOI=10.3389/fncel.2014.00315

ISSN=1662-5102

ABSTRACT=<p>Neural stem cell-based treatment holds a new therapeutic opportunity for neurodegenerative disorders. Here, we investigated the effect of methylene blue on proliferation and differentiation of rat neural progenitor cells (NPCs) both <italic>in vitro</italic> and <italic>in vivo</italic>. We found that methylene blue inhibited proliferation and promoted quiescence of NPCs <italic>in vitro</italic> without affecting committed neuronal differentiation. Consistently, intracerebroventricular infusion of methylene blue significantly inhibited NPC proliferation at the subventricular zone (SVZ). Methylene blue inhibited mTOR signaling along with down-regulation of cyclins in NPCs <italic>in vitro</italic> and <italic>in vivo</italic>. In summary, our study indicates that methylene blue may delay NPC senescence through enhancing NPCs quiescence.</p>