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GDNF and TGF-β1 promote cell survival in serum-free cultures of primary rat microglia

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Abstract

Recent evidence indicates that glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) may influence microglial survival, proliferation, and activation, but this has not yet been tested on isolated primary microglia. We compared the effects of individual and combined application of 10 ng/ml GDNF and 1 ng/ml transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) on total cell number, 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation, DNA nick-end labelling (TUNEL staining), and nitrite and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) secretion in serum-free cultures of primary rat microglia. GDNF as well as TGF-β1 enhanced the total number of lectin-positive cells and decreased the number of TUNEL-positive nuclei, while no effect on proliferation was observed. Both factors suppressed the secretion of nitrite during the first 4 days of culturing, and GDNF but not TGF-β1 reduced the secretion of LDH in 2-week-old cultures. These findings suggest that GDNF and TGF-β1 support survival of primary microglia in vitro.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Laboratory of Psychiatry, University of Innsbruck, Anichstr. 35, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria

    Kayvon Salimi, Karma V. Moser, Josef Marksteiner & Christian Humpel

  2. Department of Neurology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

    Markus Reindl

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  1. Kayvon Salimi
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  2. Karma V. Moser
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  3. Josef Marksteiner
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  4. Markus Reindl
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  5. Christian Humpel
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Correspondence to Christian Humpel.

Additional information

This study was supported by the Österr. Nationalbank (No.8731) and the Austrian Science Fund (P16130)

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Salimi, K., Moser, K.V., Marksteiner, J. et al. GDNF and TGF-β1 promote cell survival in serum-free cultures of primary rat microglia. Cell Tissue Res 312, 135–139 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-003-0711-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-003-0711-7

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