Abstract
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.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Animals
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Brain / cytology*
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Brain / drug effects
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Brain / embryology
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Cell Survival / drug effects
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Cells, Cultured
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Choline O-Acetyltransferase / metabolism
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Corpus Striatum / cytology
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Corpus Striatum / drug effects
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Corpus Striatum / embryology
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Female
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Hippocampus / cytology
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Hippocampus / drug effects
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Hippocampus / embryology
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Immunohistochemistry
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Interleukin-2 / immunology
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Interleukin-2 / pharmacology*
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Nerve Growth Factors / pharmacology*
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Neurons / drug effects*
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Parasympathetic Nervous System / cytology
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Parasympathetic Nervous System / drug effects
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Parasympathetic Nervous System / embryology
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Pregnancy
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Rats
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Rats, Wistar
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Recombinant Proteins / pharmacology
Substances
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Interleukin-2
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Nerve Growth Factors
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Recombinant Proteins
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Choline O-Acetyltransferase