Abstract： Objective To investigate the effects of different nuclear factor(NF)-κB dimers on the survival of immortalized neural progenitor cells(INPCs).Methods The control vector RC/CMV,containing the promoter of cytomegalovirus(CMV),and the expression vectors,RcCMV-p50 and RcCMV-p65,containing the coding regions of NF-κB subunits p50 and p65 genes,were transfected into the INPCs bv liposome respectively.Stably transfected clones were screened out following G418 selection.Subsequently,the plasmid RcCMV-p50 was transiently transfected into the INPCs which had been stably transfected with the plasmid RcCMV-p65.The expression of p50 or p65 gene was detected in each cell strain by Western blotting.And the NF-κB DNA binding activity in the cell nuclear extracts was measured by electrophoresis mobility shift assay(EMSA).The expression of IκBα in the cytoplasm was detected by Western blotting.After oxygen and glucose deprivation for 13 h,the cell survival rate was measured by MTT assay.Results After gene transfection,five different cell strains were obtained:INPC,INPC/CMV,INPC/p50.INPC/p65,and INPC/p50p65.p50 or p65 gene was translated correctly and efficiently in the cell strains which had been transfected with the corresponding plasmids.EMSA showed that the INPC/p50,INPC/p65,and INPC/p50p65 ceils all gave rise to NF-κB specific bands,which were composed of p50 homodimer,p65 homodimer,and p50 p65 heterodimer and p50 homodimer respectively.The expression of IκBα was increased significantly in the cytoplasm of the INPC/p65 and INPC/p50p65 cells.Games-Howell test showed that after oxygen and glucose deprivation for 13 h,the survival rates of the NPC/p65 and INPC/p50p65 cells were(6.0±1.0)% and(4.6±0.6)% respectively,both significantly lower than those of the INPC,INPC/CMV,and INPC/p50 cells[(72.5±6.2)%,(70.1±4.3)%,and(70.4±7.3)% respectively,all P＜0.05]. Conclusions Overexpression of p50 gene and p65 gene directly enhance the DNA binding activities of different NF-kB dimers in the nuclei. In neural progenitor cells,NF-κB dimers with transcriptiVe activity decreases the cellular survival after oxygen and glucose deprivation,but NF-κB dimers without transcriptive activity don't prevent the cells from death.