Lack of telomerase activity in rabbit bone marrow stromal cells during differentiation along neural pathway

Objective: To investigate telomerase activity in rabbit bone marrow stromal cells ( BMSCs ) during their committed differentiation in vitro along neural pathway and the effect of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) on the expression of telomerase. Methods: BMSCs were acquired from rabbit marrow and divided into control group, GDNF (10 ng/ml) group. Cytokine·NSCs medium (prepared by our lab, Patent No. ZL02134314. 4) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum ( FBS) was used to induce BMSCs differentiation along neural pathway. Fluorescent immunocytochemistry was employed to identify the expressions of Nestin, neuronspecific endase (NSE), and gial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). The growth curves of the cells and the status of cell cycles were analyzed, respectively. During the differentiation, telomerase activitys were detected using the telomeric repeat amplification protocol-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (TRAP-ELISA). Results; BMSCs were successfully induced to differentiate along neural pathway and expressed specific markers of fetal neural epithelium, mature neuron and glial cells. Telomerase activities were undetectable in BMSCs during differentiation along neural pathway. Similar changes of cell growth curves, cell cycle status and telomerase expression were observed in the two groups. Conclusions: Rabbit BMSCs do not display telomerase activity during differentiation along neural pathway. GDNF shows little impact on proliferation and telomerase activity of BMSCs.     

NFAT2 is implicated in corticosterone-induced rat Leydig cell apoptosis

Aim： To investigate the activation of the nuclear factor of activated T cells （NFAT） and its function in the corticosterone （CORT）-induced apoptosis of rat Leydig cells. Methods： NFAT in rat Leydig cells was detected by Western blotting and immunohistochemical staining. Cyclosporin A （CsA） was used to evaluate potential involvement of NFAT in the CORT-induced apoptosis of Leydig cells. Intracellular Ca^2＋ was monitored in CORT-treated Leydig cells using Fluo-3/AM. After the Leydig cells were incubated with either CORT or CORT plus CsA for 12 h, the levels of NFAT2 in the nuclei and in the cytoplasm were measured by semi-quantitative Western blotting. The role of NFAT2 in CORT- induced Leydig cell apoptosis was further evaluated by observing the effects of NFAT2 overexpression and the inhibition of NFAT2 activation by CsA on FasL expression and apoptosis. Results： We found that NFAT2 was the predominant isoform in Leydig cells. CsA blocked the CORT-induced apoptosis of the Leydig cells. The intracellular Ca^2＋ level in the Leydig cells was significantly increased after the CORT treatment. The CORT increased the level of NFAT2 in the nuclei and decreased its level in the cytoplasm. CsA blocked the CORT-induced nuclear translocation of NFAT2 in the Leydig cells. Both CORT-induced apoptosis and FasL expression in the rat Leydig cells were enhanced by the overexpression of NFAT2 and antagonized by CsA. Conclusion： NFAT2 was activated in CORT-induced Leydig cell apoptosis. The effects of NFAT2 overexpression and the inhibition of NFAT2 activation suggest that NFAT2 may potentially play a pro-apoptotic role in CORT-induced Leydig cell apoptosis through the up-regulation of FasL.