Low-density induced apoptosis of cortical neurons is inhibited by serum factors.
1. We investigated the survival of neurons under serum-free conditions without any exogenous signal molecules, using primary cultures of rat cerebral cortex. 2. Survival activity, measured with Alamar Blue, showed a cell density dependency under serum-free conditions. 3. The addition of fetal bovine serum suppressed the apoptotic cell death accompanied by DNA-laddering and fragmentation specific in low-density cultures, resulting in the disappearance of the cell density dependency of survival. 4. These findings suggest that serum factors may substitute for endogenous survival factors from cortical neurons in high-density cultures.
Department of Pharmacology, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, Japan.
Y
Y
Sasaki
N
N
Fukushima
A
A
Yoshida
H
H
Ueda
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D001685:Biological Factors / Q000097:blood / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002417:Cattle; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000166:cytology*; D004396:Coloring Agents; D016895:Culture Media, Serum-Free / Q000494:pharmacology; D053938:DNA Fragmentation; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects*; D010078:Oxazines; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D014966:Xanthenes
D001685:Biological Factors; D004396:Coloring Agents; D016895:Culture Media, Serum-Free; D010078:Oxazines; D014966:Xanthenes; C005843:resazurin