Figure 5.

Comparative effect of ELAC and prostratin on EGF‐ and bFGF‐induced NPC proliferation. (A) Proliferation was tested in NPC cultures grown in the presence of bFGF (10 ng·mL⁻¹), EGF (20 ng·mL⁻¹), or a combination of both, with or without addition of 5 μM ELAC or 5 μM prostratin. Graph shows the effect of these treatments on neurosphere area after 72 h of culture. *P < 0.05 when compared with their respective control; #P < 0.05 when compared with either EGF or bFGF alone. (B) The data from (A) are presented here in a different manner, showing neurosphere area increments induced by ELAC or prostratin (ratio treatment/none) whether in the presence of bFGF, EGF or a combination of both; *P < 0.05 when compared with the same treatment ratio in bFGF‐stimulated cultures; #P < 0.05 when compared with the same treatment ratio in EGF‐stimulated cultures. (C) Proliferation was tested in NPC cultures grown in the presence of bFGF, EGF or a combination of both, with or without addition of the PKC inhibitor Gö6850 (0.5 μM). Graph shows the effect of these treatments on neurosphere area after 72 h of culture. *P < 0.05 when compared with their respective control; #P < 0.05 when compared with EGF + Gö6850. (D) Graph shows the effect of the indicated treatments on neurosphere number after 72 h of culture. Results are the mean ± SEM. Each individual experiment was performed with triplicate samples (the size of a minimum of 540 neurospheres was measured per condition).