Open Access

Ketamine promotes the neural differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells by activating mTOR

  • Authors:
    • Xuhui Zhou
    • Xiang Lv
    • Lei Zhang
    • Jia Yan
    • Rong Hu
    • Yu Sun
    • Siwei Xi
    • Hong Jiang
  • View Affiliations

  • Published online on: March 30, 2020     https://doi.org/10.3892/mmr.2020.11043
  • Pages: 2443-2451
  • Copyright: © Zhou et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

Ketamine is a widely used general anesthetic and has been reported to demonstrate neurotoxicity and neuroprotection. Investigation into the regulatory mechanism of ketamine on influencing neural development is of importance for a better and safer way of relieving pain. Reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blotting were used to detect the critical neural associated gene expression, and flow cytometry to detect the neural differentiation effect. Hence, in the present study the underlying mechanism of ketamine (50 nM) on neural differentiation of the mouse embryonic stem cell (mESC) line 46C was investigated. The results demonstrated that a low dose of ketamine (50 nM) promoted the differentiation of mESCs to neural stem cells (NSCs) and activated mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) by upregulating the expression levels of phosphorylated (p)‑mTOR. Furthermore, inhibition of the mTOR signaling pathway by rapamycin or knockdown of mTOR suppressed neural differentiation. A rescue experiment further confirmed that downregulation of mTOR inhibited the promotion of neural differentiation induced by ketamine. Taken together, the present study indicated that a low level of ketamine upregulated p‑mTOR expression levels, promoting neural differentiation.
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June-2020
Volume 21 Issue 6

Print ISSN: 1791-2997
Online ISSN:1791-3004

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Copy and paste a formatted citation
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Spandidos Publications style
Zhou X, Lv X, Zhang L, Yan J, Hu R, Sun Y, Xi S and Jiang H: Ketamine promotes the neural differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells by activating mTOR. Mol Med Rep 21: 2443-2451, 2020
APA
Zhou, X., Lv, X., Zhang, L., Yan, J., Hu, R., Sun, Y. ... Jiang, H. (2020). Ketamine promotes the neural differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells by activating mTOR. Molecular Medicine Reports, 21, 2443-2451. https://doi.org/10.3892/mmr.2020.11043
MLA
Zhou, X., Lv, X., Zhang, L., Yan, J., Hu, R., Sun, Y., Xi, S., Jiang, H."Ketamine promotes the neural differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells by activating mTOR". Molecular Medicine Reports 21.6 (2020): 2443-2451.
Chicago
Zhou, X., Lv, X., Zhang, L., Yan, J., Hu, R., Sun, Y., Xi, S., Jiang, H."Ketamine promotes the neural differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells by activating mTOR". Molecular Medicine Reports 21, no. 6 (2020): 2443-2451. https://doi.org/10.3892/mmr.2020.11043