Long-term treatment of aggregating brain cell cultures with low concentrations of lead acetate.
Aggregating brain cell cultures were used as a model to study the effect of chronic exposure to low levels of lead acetate. Long-term maintenance of cultures could be improved by supplementation of the medium with albumin-bound lipids. Exposure for 9 days to 10(-6)-10(-4) M lead acetate caused a decrease of GABAergic (glutamic acid decarboxylase) and astrocytic (glutamine synthetase) markers which was also found after prolonged treatment (50 days) with 10(-7) M lead acetate. Total protein content and choline acetyltransferase were not changed. The results show that prolonged exposure of aggregating brain cell cultures to a low concentration of lead acetate causes distinct changes of cell type-specific parameters.
Institute of Physiology, University of Lausanne, Switzerland.
M G
MG
Zurich
F
F
Monnet-Tschudi
P
P
Honegger
D000418:Albumins / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology; D002449:Cell Aggregation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism; D005968:Glutamate Decarboxylase / Q000378:metabolism; D005974:Glutamate-Ammonia Ligase / Q000378:metabolism; D008055:Lipids / Q000494:pharmacology; D009942:Organometallic Compounds / Q000633:toxicity*; D051381:Rats
D000418:Albumins; D008055:Lipids; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase; D005968:Glutamate Decarboxylase; D005974:Glutamate-Ammonia Ligase; C008261:lead acetate