Fig. 3.

Identification of primary cultured neural stem cells (NSCs) and evaluation of their proliferation after administration of Apelin or its inhibitor ML221. A Morphology of NSCs under a light microscope, scale bar = 100 µm (left), 50 µm (middle) or 25 µm (right). B Identification of primary cultured NSCs, scale bar = 130 µm. C, D Multi-differentiation potential of NSCs was assessed by GFAP+ cells (green) and Olig2+ cells after 14 d, scale bar = 130 µm or 120 µm. Proliferation of NSCs under different dosages of Apelin and its inhibitor ML221 were determined by CCK8 assay at 24 h (E), 48 h (F), and 14 d (G) after SCI (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 vs. normal group, mean ± SD)