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ATPase activity at the cell surface of astroglia in culture
Author(s) -
Mandel P.,
Stefanovic V.,
Ciesielski-Treska J.,
Ebel A.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/0014-5793(74)80875-6
Subject(s) - humanities , physics , philosophy
The precise role of glial cells in brain metabolism is not yet understood. Since neurons and glia are intimately associated in the structure of the brain, studies on their functions and relationships at the cellular level need a methodology for separation of these two cell types and among glia, astrocytes from oligodendrocytes. Several methods for large scale separation of glia and neurons have been introduced but extensive cell damage and mutual contaminations by membrane structures and cell processes were pointed out [ 11. Cell cultivation provides means for obtaining samples of neurons and glial cells separately. Cultures of neurons or glial cells are generally prepared from embryonic nervous system or are derived from neoplasms. The justification for the use of such a culture as a model of the normal central nervous system has been discussed previously [2j . Recently some ceil lines with biochemical characteristics of differentiated glia have been developed [3, 41. Their utility as models of glial cell investigations has been suggested. However we do not know how many characteristics of the original cell type they retain and how extensive may be the changes in gene expression in the transformed cell line. The present study was attempted to further biochemical characterization of some glial cell lines in culture by the study of an enzyme, the (Na’ + K’)-ATPase activity (ATP phosphohydrolase, EC 3.6.1.3), identified with the sodium pump. Three different cell lines of astroglia were studied: (1) astrocytes from newborn rat brain, in primary culture, (2) normal astroblasts from new-