Almengló Buzón, CristinaDevesa Peleteiro, PabloDevesa Múgica, JesúsArce Vázquez, Víctor Manuel2020-11-262020-11-262017Almengló, C.; Devesa, P.; Devesa, J.; Arce, V.M. GPE Promotes the Proliferation and Migration of Mouse Embryonic Neural Stem Cells and Their Progeny In Vitro. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2017, 18, 1280http://hdl.handle.net/10347/23824This study was designed to investigate a possible role of the N-terminal tripeptide of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-I), Gly-Pro-Glu (GPE), physiologically generated in neurons following IGF-I-specific cleavage, in promoting neural regeneration after an injury. Primary cultures of mouse neural stem cells (NSCs), obtained from 13.5 Days post-conception (dpc) mouse embryos, were challenged with either GPE, growth hormone (GH), or GPE + GH and the effects on cell proliferation, migration, and survival were evaluated both under basal conditions and in response to a wound healing assay. The cellular pathways activated by GPE were also investigated by using specific chemical inhibitors. The results of the study indicate that GPE treatment promotes the proliferation and the migration of neural stem cells in vitro through a mechanism that involves the activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and phosphoinositide 3-kinase PI3K-Akt pathways. Intriguingly, both GPE effects and the signaling pathways activated were similar to those observed after GH treatment. Based upon the results obtained from this study, GPE, as well as GH, may be useful in promoting neural protection and/or regeneration after an injuryeng© 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)Atribución 4.0 Internacionalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/GPEGHNeural regenerationERKPI3K/AktN-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA)Neural stem cellsBrain injuryjournal article10.3390/ijms180612801422-0067open access