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Interleukin‐2 as a neurotrophic factor for supporting the survival of neurons cultured from various regions of fetal rat brain
Author(s) -
Awatsuji H.,
Furukawa Y.,
Nakajima M.,
Furukawa S.,
Hayashi K.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of neuroscience research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.72
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1097-4547
pISSN - 0360-4012
DOI - 10.1002/jnr.490350310
Subject(s) - choline acetyltransferase , neurite , neurotrophic factors , hippocampal formation , cholinergic neuron , cholinergic , neurotrophin , neuron , neuroscience , biology , nerve growth factor , embryonic stem cell , endocrinology , medicine , in vitro , biochemistry , receptor , gene
Interleukin(IL)‐2 supported the survival and enhanced neurite extension of cultured hippocampal neurons prepared from embryonic 18‐day‐old rats. This neurotrophic effect was observed at concentrations of 2 to 200 U/ml, and almost all the neurons could survive for more than 2 days in the presence of 200 U/ml of IL‐2. This viability‐promoting effect of IL‐2 on the neurons was completely blocked with anti‐IL‐2 antibodies. IL‐2 also supported the survival of cultured cortical, striatal, and septal neurons. These results indicate that IL‐2 has a survival‐promoting effect on a wide variety of neurons. On the other hand, IL‐2 did not affect the choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity of striatal neurons, suggesting that this cytokine does not act as a differentiation factor for striatal cholinergic neurons. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.