Hypoxic Preconditioned Neural Stem Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles Contain Distinct Protein Cargo from Their Normal Counterparts

Abstract

Hypoxic preconditioning has been demonstrated to increase the resistance of neural stem cells (NSCs) to hypoxic conditions, as well as to improve their capacity for differentiation and neurogenesis. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have recently emerged as critical mediators of cell–cell communication, but their role in this hypoxic conditioning is presently unknown. Here, we demonstrated that three hours of hypoxic preconditioning triggers significant neural stem cell EV release. Proteomic profiling of EVs from normal and hypoxic preconditioned neural stem cells identified 20 proteins that were upregulated and 22 proteins that were downregulated after hypoxic preconditioning. We also found an upregulation of some of these proteins by qPCR, thus indicating differences also at the transcript level within the EVs. Among the upregulated proteins are CNP, Cyfip1, CASK, and TUBB5, which are well known to exhibit significant beneficial effects on neural stem cells. Thus, our results not only show a significant difference of protein cargo in EVs consequent to hypoxic exposure, but identify several candidate proteins that might play a pivotal role in the cell-to-cell mediated communication underlying neuronal differentiation, protection, maturation, and survival following exposure to hypoxic conditions.