摘要Hypoxia promotes proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells from embryonic day 12 rat brain tissue, but the concentration and time of hypoxic preconditioning are controversial. To address this, we cultured neural stem cells isolated from embryonic day 14 rat cerebral cortex in 5% and 10% oxygenin vitro. MTT assay, neurosphere number, and immunolfuorescent staining found that 5% or 10% oxygen preconditioning for 72 hours improved neural stem cell viability and proliferation. With prolonged hypoxic duration (120 hours), the proportion of apoptotic cells increased. Thus, 5% oxygen preconditioning for 72 hours promotes neural stem cell prolif-eration and neuronal differentiation. Our ifndings indicate that the optimal concentration and duration of hypoxic preconditioning for promoting proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells from the cerebral cortex are 5% oxygen for 72 hours.