Protective Effects of L-3-n-Butylphthalide Against H2O2-Induced Injury in Neural Stem Cells by Activation of PI3K/Akt and Mash1 Pathway

•L-3-n-butylphthalide improved the proliferation of neural stem cells by activation of PI3K/Akt/cyclin D1 pathway.•L-3-n-butylphthalide enhanced the migration of neural stem cells, and N-cadherin might be involved in.•L-3-n-butylphthalide promoted more neural stem cells to differentiate into neurons by upregulating Mash1.•We concluded that L-NBP might be a potential candidate for the neurogenesis-based treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.