ISSN:
1432-1106
Keywords:
Retinal ganglion cells
;
Cell death
;
Trophic factors
;
Tissue culture
;
Development
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
Summary The enzyme horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was injected into the visual centres of the brains of neonatal rats. Following dissociation of retinae into tissue culture, the ganglion cells could be identified by appropriate histochemical staining for HRP reaction product. Cultures were prepared of dissociated retinae from rats aged 2–6 days postnatal. After 3 h the cultures were fixed, and HRP-labelled cells visualized and counted. Estimates were made of the number of ganglion cells per retina at each age. Results indicated a loss of ganglion cells during the first few postnatal days. This loss paralleled that observed in vivo. It was further found the retinal ganglion cells died rapidly in vitro when cultured in a minimal medium. Only 50% of ganglion cells originally plated remained viable after 24 h. However, the survival rate could be increased to 100% by coculturing the cells with diencephalon and mesencephalon; these contain the retinorecipient nuclei. Coculturing with cerebellum did not result in such an enhanced survival rate. Ganglion cells could be maintained over longer periods of time by reinoculating the cultures with additional tissue containing diencephalon and mesencephalon. These results support the hypothesis that developing neurons require trophic factors from their target tissues in order to survive.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00238614
