Fig. 3: EOF treatment promotes differentiation of NPC to neurons.

a Representative fluorescence microphotographs of SVZ-derived cultured NPC that had been treated with either diluent (control) or EOF2 (5 µM). Cells were grown without growth factors and allowed to differentiate for 72 h after treatment and then fixed. β-III-tubulin marker was used for neuronal immunodetection (red) and glial cells were identified by the immunodetection of GFAP (green). Total nuclei were counterstained with DAPI (blue). Scale bar = 50 µm. b Graph represents the percentage of total cells (detected by DAPI nuclear staining) that were positive for β-III-tubulin expression expressed as percentage of control. Data are the means ± S.E.M.; n = 9 independent values (n = 9). Statistical analysis: *p = 0.0025 in unpaired two tailed Student’s t test comparing with the control group. c Graph represents the percentage of total cells (detected by DAPI nuclear staining) that were positive for GFAP expression expressed as percentage of control. Data are the means ± S.E.M. of nine independent values (n = 9). d Graph represents the percentage of nonviable cells after treatment as a percentage of total cells (detected by DAPI nuclear staining) expressed as a percentage of control. Viability was measured by trypan blue exclusion as described in the methods section. Results show a statistically significant increase in the percentage of β-III-tubulin⁺ cells whereas no change of GFAP⁺ cells in the presence of EOF2. Data are the means ± S.E.M. of nine independent values (n = 9). Statistical analysis: *p = 0.0004 in unpaired two tailed Student’s t test comparing with the control group.