Fig. 1

MSCs rescue damaged NSCs after cisplatin treatment and reverse the loss of neuroblasts in the brain. a Neuronal stem cells (NSCs) were treated with cisplatin or vehicle for 8 h, stained with cell tracker blue (CTB), and subsequently co-cultured for 17 h with or without mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Survival of NSCs was assessed by counting the number of CTB-positive cells. The graph shows the rate of NSC survival after 17 h co-culture with MSCs (blue bars) or without MSCs (black bars). Data are normalized to survival in the absence of MSCs and cisplatin in each experiment and represent the mean ± SEM of 6 independent experiments. Data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA, repeated measures (cisplatin × MSC interaction: P < 0.01), followed by Bonferroni’s post-hoc test. **** P < 0.0001). (b-k) Animals were treated with cisplatin for 2 cycles of 5 days. DCX+ neuronal progenitors were observed in the DG of the hippocampus (b-e) as well as the SVZ (g-j). The number of cells were counted in the DG tip (f). For the SVZ, the number of cells was normalized to the length of the SVZ (k). Data were analyzed by two-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post-hoc test. *P < 0.05