Post-doctoral fellowship The University of Hong Kong 南区, Hong Kong
Abstract: Numerous researches demonstrate that mitochondria are central regulators of fate decision of neural stem cells (NSCs). NSC are regarded as a promising therapeutic approach to protecting and restoring damaged neurons in neurological disease. However, new research suggests that NSC reprograming is required to make this strategy effective. Here, we found one potential drug CO1, an active compound from Chinese Medicine, could modulate stem cell fate decision through mitochondrial metabolism. We tested the impact of CO1 on embryonic stem cell (ESC) proliferation and mitochondrial structural and function parameters, such as membrane potential and ATP synthesis, as well as oxidative stress indicators. The results indicated that CO1 dose-dependently increases ATP concentration, mitochondrial membrane potential, and ROS synthesis to inhibit the ESC proliferation and promotes it reprogramming into NSC. Therefore, we concluded that CO1 could efficiency develop ESC into NSC via mitochondrial activity promotion.
