SCF/c-kit pathway is involved in injury-induced NSPC migration. (A) SCF-induced c-kit tyrosine phosphorylation (Tyr-P) was detected by immunoprecipitation (IP) and immunoblot (IB). The 120-kDa and 140-kDa bands represent the c-kit proteins in the human and mouse NSPCs. Lane 1, SCF treatment; lane 2, untreated control; lane 3, pretreatment of NSPCs with ACK45 c-kit_blocking Ab before SCF treatment. (B) Tissue lysates from injured and normal mouse forebrain were used to stimulate migration of mouse NSPCs (with or without pretreatment with ACK45 blocking Ab) in the Boyden chamber migration assay. Relative fluorescence units (RFU) correlated with the number of migrated cells. NSPC migration was significantly induced by injured brain lysates compared with normal brain lysates (*P < 0.05). The chemotactic effect of injured brain lysates was nearly completely abolished when NSPCs were pretreated with the c-kit_blocking Ab (*P < 0.05). Error bars represent SEM. These are representative experiments and similar results were obtained from at least three independent experiments.