Lavendustin A enhances axon elongation in VHL gene-transfected neural stem cells

Axonal elongation is necessary for neuronal regeneration of the spinal cord after spinal injury. Recently neural stem cells have been proposed as hopeful graft donors for regeneration of the central nervous system. However, most grafted stem cells are not able to differentiate into neurons, and grafted stem cells cannot usually grow axons. Here, we show the effect of the protein tyrosine kinase inhibitor lavendustin A on axonal growth of neurons differentiated from neural stem cells obtained from adult rat hippocampal cells transfected with the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) gene. Significantly greater axonal outgrowth was observed for the transfected cells treated with the inhibitor than for those not so treated. Thus, protein-tyrosine kinase inhibition is effective for axonal outgrowth of neurons differentiated from neural stem cells and may prove to be useful for neuronal regeneration via transplanted stem cells, particularly in the case of spinal cord injuries.