Fig. 5

Mitochondrial transfer from MSCs to NSCs damaged by cisplatin restores mitochondrial membrane potential. Neuronal stem cells (NSCs) were treated with vehicle or 1 μM cisplatin for 8 h, stained with cell tracker blue (CTB), and subsequently co-cultured for 17 h with or without mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) transfected with mito-GFP to label the mitochondria. Co-cultures were stained with tetramethylrhodamine methyl ester (TMRM) and imaged. Confocal images of co-cultures show that NSCs exhibited a bright TMRM signal in control conditions (a and c) that was markedly reduced after cisplatin treatment (b). The mitochondrial membrane potential in cisplatin-treated NSCs was restored after receiving MSC-derived mitochondria labeled in green (d). MSCs do not uptake TMRM as well as NSCs (Additional file 1: Figure S1). TMRM fluorescence was quantified in individual NSCs (e). N = 65 cells were quantified in each group. Data are represented as means ± SEM and were analyzed using One-way ANOVA followed by Dunn’s multiple comparisons test. *** P ≤ 0.001