title: Interleukin-2 enhances the viability of primary cultured rat neocortical neurons.
abstract: We determined the neurotrophic activity of interleukin-2 (IL-2) on primary cultured neocortical neurons from embryonic rat brain. IL-2 clearly enhanced the viability of cultured neurons in a dose-dependent manner. The neurotrophic effect of IL-2 was completely neutralized by IL-2 antibody. Furthermore, expression of IL-2 receptor mRNA was more pronounced in neurons than in other cultured cells such as astroglia and microglia. These results strongly suggest that IL-2 plays certain roles in the central nervous system as a neurotrophic factor.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurochemistry, National Institute of Neuroscience, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shimojo
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Imai
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mizushima
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Uemura
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kohsaka
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects*; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D011247:Pregnancy; D012313:RNA / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats
chemical_list: D007376:Interleukin-2; D012313:RNA