Abstract:Objective To investigate the effects of rat senescent astrocytes on the proliferation of neural stem cells using an H2O2 -induced senescent astrocyte model. Methods Primary cortical astrocytes and telencephalic neural stem cells were isolated by trypsin digestion from newborn and fetal rats, respectively. Rat astrocytes were incubated for 4 h with H2O2 to establish the senescent model. The supernatants of senescent cells cultured for 3 and 7 days were collected as conditioned medium, then added at a ratio of 1 ∶3 or 1 ∶2 to observe its effect on neural stem cell counts and neurosphere counts (proliferation). Normal astrocyte conditioned medium was used as control medium. Results The 3 d normal conditioned medium had no effect on the short-term proliferation of neural stem cells, but inhibited their long-term proliferation. The 3 d senescent conditioned medium inhibited the proliferation of neural stem cells. The 7 d normal conditioned medium promoted the short-term proliferation of neural stem cells and inhibited their long-term proliferation. The 7 d senescent medium inhibited the proliferation of neural stem cells, and the inhibitory effect was greater than that of normal medium. Conclusions Rat senescent astrocytes induced by H2O2 inhibited the proliferation of neural stem cells, and the inhibition of long-term proliferation was greater than that of normal astrocytes.