Figure 5.

Effect of BME and bacopaside I, a major triterpenoid constituent of BME, on the proliferation of the NPCs. Cells were prepared from hippocampal dentate gyrus, as described in the Material and Methods section. After cultivating for 14–20 days, NPCs were harvested for subsequent replating and culturing in the growth medium in the absence or presence of different concentrations of BME and bacopaside I for assessment of cell proliferation by 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. (A) Typical images of NPCs cultured in the absence or presence of BME (20 μg/ml) and bacopaside I (20 μM). (B) Summarized data on NPC proliferation after incubation for 6 days with indicated treatments. Each data column represents the mean ± SEM from 4 separate experiments. ** p < 0.01, significantly different from the non-treated group.