en Neurosciences Neurosciences Original Article Original Article <span style="font-family:Tahoma;"><span style="font-size:12px;"><span style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-weight:bold"><span style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-weight:normal">Degeneration of dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra is known as the main cause of Parkinson&#39;s disease (PD). Preventing the loss of DA neurons alongside the cell-replacement therapy have brought tremendous hope for the treatment of PD. For this purpose, various studies have been done to find specific DA neuro-protective compounds or progressing DA-differentiation methods. Ferulic acid (FA) has strong neuro-protective effects, but at this point its role on protection and differentiation of DA neurons is not well-defined. Mouse neural stem cells (mNSCs) were treated with FA and expressions of TH<i> </i>(tyrosine hydroxylase)<i> </i>and NURR1 as the DA neuron specific markers were determined using real time qRT-PCR and immunostaining assays<i>. </i>Finally, efficacy of FA on DA differentiation was evaluated in comparison with other methods using fibroblast growth factor 8b (FGF8b) and sonic hedgehog (SHH). Treatment with FA could increase the <i>Th</i> and <i>Nurr1</i> gene expressions in mNSCs. Also, it enhanced <i>&beta;</i>-<i>tubullin</i>-<i>III</i> expression and increased the neurite length in treated groups. Real time qRT-PCR and immunostaining assays showed that FA could increase DA differentiation in mNSCs effectively. Also, gene expression profile in some groups showed that FA can raise the differentiation rate of other neuronal subtypes such as cholinergic neurons. FA effectively</span></span> <span style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-weight:normal">induces the DA differentiation in neural precursor cells by its ability to increase the expression of the NURR1 transcription factor, which is a known transcription factor for differentiation of midbrain DA neurons.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br> &nbsp; Dopaminergic, neural stem cell, Ferulic acid, differentiation, Nurr1, Tyrosine hydroxylase 78 87 http://ijmcmed.org/browse.php?a_code=A-10-4872-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Maryam Sadeghi-Zadeh msadeghibiology91@gmail.com 100319475328460026133 100319475328460026133 No Department of Biology, ACECR Institute of Higher Education, Isfahan, Iran. Farshad Homayouni Moghadam f_homayounim@yahoo.com 100319475328460026134 100319475328460026134 Yes 2Department of Animal Biotechnology, Cell Science Research Center, Royan Institute for Biotechnology, ACECR, Isfahan, Iran. Mohammad Hossein Nasr Esfahani nasr.royan@gmail.com 100319475328460026135 100319475328460026135 No Department of Animal Biotechnology, Cell Science Research Center, Royan Institute for Biotechnology, ACECR, Isfahan, Iran.