Abstract: Objective Investigation of the functional genes expression patterns during the differentiation of neural stem cells (NSCs) by microarray assay and bioinformatics analysis. Methods Cell culture and differentiation of NSCs, cellular sorting system based on the combination of cell surface markers, bioinformatics analysis were employed to display the change patterns of functional gene pathways in astrocytes and neurons compared with NSCs. Results The results show that the multiple genes expression activities in Wnt, insulin and P53 pathways are dynamically changed in differentiated astrocytes and neurons from NSCs. Conclusion The complex interactions of functional gene pathways are important for the precise differentiation of NSCs.

Key words: neural stem cell, directed differentiation, Wnt pathway, insulin pathway, P53 pathway