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Neural stem cells (NSCs) have the ability to differentiate into neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. They are self-renewing and sufficient to provide large amounts of brain tissue cells. NSCs have promising application prospects for the treatment of central nervous system diseases. Spider toxins are important tools for use in neurobiology and neuropharmacology. In this study, a Cell Counting Kit (CCK-8), immunofluorescence staining, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and Western blotting were used to qualitatively and quantitatively analyse the effects of different concentrations (1, 10 and 20 μg/mL) of Chilobrachys jingzhao crude venom on the proliferation and differentiation of C17.2 cells in vitro. At low concentrations, C. jingzhao crude venom did not significantly inhibit the proliferation of NSCs; however, the highest concentration of 20 μg/mL partially inhibited the NSC proliferation. In the differentiation medium, addition of C. jingzhao crude venom effectively promoted the differentiation of NSCs towards neuronal cells, with a final concentration of 10 μg/mL having the most obvious effect. These results suggest that C. jingzhao crude venom exerts a regulatory effect on the proliferation and differentiation of C17.2 cells. Therefore, spider venom can be used as an ‘ammunition library’ to find factors that regulate the proliferation and differentiation of NSCs, laying the groundwork for the application of NSCs in the treatment of central nervous system diseases.

In tissue engineering, scaffolding plays an important role in accommodating and stimulating new tissue growth. Chitosan and alginate are two widely used natural polymers in tissue engineering. Here, we prepared the chitosan-alginate (Chi-Alg) hydrogel from naturally derived chitosan and alginate polymers. The Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction results demonstrated that a chitosan-alginate hydrogel was constructed due to the strong ionic interaction between the positively charged amino groups of chitosan and the negatively charged carboxyl groups of alginate. The scanning electron microscopy and contact angle results showed the inner porous structure and highly hydrophilic property of chitosan-alginate hydrogel. As the two most promising cell types in nerve tissue engineering, both olfactory ensheathing cells and neural stem cells proliferated well on the chitosan-alginate hydrogel. All results indicated the good potential application of a chitosan-alginate hydrogel for neural tissue engineering.