Fluoxetine promotes the proliferation of hypothalamic neuroprogenitor cells.

<p>Hypothalamic neurospheres were incubated with fluoxetine (1 µM) throughout 3 passages. Representative confocal photomicrographs of cell proliferation marker Ki-67 (red) (<b>A</b>). Fluoxetine increases the percentage of Ki-67 positive cells and 24 hours incubation with proliferation inhibitor AraC or Trk receptors inhibitor K252a reverses this effect (<b>B</b>). Fluoxetine upregulates the mRNA levels of neurotrophic factor BDNF (<b>C</b>). DAPI (blue), nuclear staining. Mean ± SEM; n = 4; One-Way ANOVA (B) and Two-Way ANOVA (C); ns, p>0.05; *, p<0.05; ***, p<0.001 compared to control; ^##, p<0.01; ^###, p<0.001 compared to fluoxetine. Scale bar: 50 µm. P, passage.