Abstract: P>Objective To study the differentiation of neural stem cells (NSCs) transfected with nuclear receptor related factor 1 (Nurr1) gene into dopaminergic neurons and its behavioral exertion after transplanted into the striatum of Parkinson’s disease (PD) rats. Methods The unilateral PD rats were prepared by the rat brain stereotaxic technology. The successful PD rats were randomly divided into 3 groups with 8 rats in each group. The rats in the sham group were injected with normal saline. Untransfected NSCs were grafted into the rats in NSCs group. In Nurr1group, the recombinant pEGFP-N1-Nurr1 was transfected into NSCs first, the expression of Nurr1 gene was detected by RT-PCR and immunofluorescence, and then the NSCs were transplanted. Cells were labeled with DIL and transplanted into the right striatum of PD rats. Apomorphine-induced rotation test was performed to observe the behaviour amelioration 2 weeks after transplantation. The expression of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) was detected by immunofluorescence labeling 12 weeks later. Results Nurr1 gene was overexpressed in NSCs after transfected with recombinant plasmid. After transplantation, the rotations of PD rats did not decrease obviously in sham and NSCs groups ( P ＞0.05). DIL positive cells were observed in NSCs group, but TH positive neurons were few with (3.21±0.40) cells per field. In Nurr1 group, the rotations of PD rats began to decrease by the sixth week after transplantation, and the DIL/TH doublelabeled neurons reached (9.28±1.09) cells per field in the transplanted area. Conclusion Overexpression of Nurr1 may induce the differentiation of NSCs into TH positive dopaminergic neu

Key words: Nuclear receptor related factor 1, Neural stem cells, Parkinson’s disease, Gene transfection, Transplantation, Immunofluorescence, Rat