Hyperoxia shows duration-dependent effects on the lengths of cell cycle phases in fetal cortical neural stem cells.

Fetal neural stem cells (NSCs) physiologically reside under low-oxygen conditions (1%-5% of tissue pO), but are often transferred and maintained under atmospheric oxygen levels of 21% pO (hyperoxia) for investigations. These altered oxygen conditions lead to adaptive changes in NSCs which complicate the interpretation of data. However, the underlying adaption dynamics remain largely enigmatic.