Summary:
Primary cultures of viable and differentiated neuronal and astrocytic cells
were established from human adult brain tissues (n=29) following neurosurgical
operations. During culture (14-21 days-in-vitro), neuron-like cells and
astrocytes retained their differentiated phenotypes and neurophysiological
competence and regenerated an inter-cellular communication network.
Neuro-immune cellular interactions were studied in co-cultures of
neuronal-astrocytic primary cultures and their autologous immune cells,
obtained from the patients’ peripheral blood. In the presence of their
autologous neuronal-astrocytic cells, B-cells remained largely unaffected while
T-lymphocyte populations gradually declined. The inherent activation status of
monocyte populations was associated with neurotoxicity responses in a
sample-dependent fashion. Our evidence portrays cause-and-effect responses
between autologous neuronal-astrocytic and inflammatory populations that
diverge between individuals and are suggestive of both neurodegenerative and
immunosuppressive processes. Following that, we created co-cultures of neurons
and lymphocytes coming from newborn Wistar rats with and without the addition
of reserpine. Whilst adding reserpine to lymphocytic cultures did not seem to
affect the cells’ viability, apoptosis and activation, in co-cultures it leads
to a decrease in the T-cell population.
