Objective To study the effects and possible mechanism of Huangqin（Radix Scutellaria）-containing serum on differentiation of neural stem cells. Methods Primary rat neural stem cells were isolated

cultured and identified by immunofluorescence. SD rats were given 500 and 1000 mg/kg of Huangqin Decoction（黄芩水煎剂） once a day for gavage. After 7 consecutive days

high-dose and low-dose Radix Scutellariae-containing serum were prepared. The low and high drug-containing serums were set at 3 concentrations of 0.1%

1%

and 10% to intervene neural stem cells

and the test drug concentration was screened. Neural stem cells were collected and inoculated into a 24-well plate with 1×10

5

per well. The experiment was divided into a control group

a drug-containing serum group

and a drug-containing serum plus inhibitor group

with 3 replicate wells per group. The control group was added with 10μl of blank rat serum per well

the drug-containing serum group was added with 10μl of screening concentration of Radix Scutellariae-containing serum per well

the drug-containing serum plus inhibitor group was added with 10μl of screening concentration of Radix Scutellariae-containing serum per well. In the drug-containing serum plus inhibitor group

10μl of Radix Scutellariae containing serum and 1μl of H89 solution at a concentration of 10 mmol/L were added to each well

and the fluid was changed every other day for 7 days. The cell growth rates of the double adrenocortical hormone（DCX） and neuronal core antigen（NeuN） in each group of cells were compared; the expre-ssion of sodium channel subtypes SCN1 A

SCN2 A

SCN3 A

SCN8 A mRNA

protein kinase A（PKA）

phosphate in the cells Protein kinase A（p-PKA） protein expression

concentration of adenylate cyclase（AC） and cAMP in cell supernatant were detected. Results 1% Radix Scutellariae high-dose serum was screened for subsequent experiments. Compared with the control group

the growth rate of DCX and NeuN cells in the drug-containing serum group cells increased

SCN1 A

SCN2 A

SCN3 A

SCN8 A mRNA expression increased

p-PKA/PKA value and AC

cAMP concentration increased（P

<

0.05 or P

<

0.01）; compared with the drug-containing serum group

the above-mentioned indexes of the drug-containing serum plus inhibitor group were reduced to varying degrees（P

<

0.01）. Conclusion The Radix Scutellariae-containing serum can promote the differentiation of hippocampal neural stem cells. The mechanism may be related to the promotion of the expression of sodium channel genes

cAMP/PKA pathway enzymes and proteins.