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Lead acetate toxicity in vitro: Dependence on the cell composition of the cultures.
- Source :
-
Toxicology in vitro : an international journal published in association with BIBRA [Toxicol In Vitro] 1998 Apr; Vol. 12 (2), pp. 191-6. - Publication Year :
- 1998
-
Abstract
- It is well known that exposure to low doses of lead causes long-lasting neurobehavioural deficits, but the cellular changes underlying these behavioural changes remain to be elucidated. A protective role of glial cells on neurons through lead sequestration by astrocytes has been proposed. The possible modulation of lead neurotoxicity by neuron-glia interactions was examined in three-dimensional cultures of foetal rat telencephalon. Mixed-brain cell cultures or cultures enriched in either neurons or glial cells were treated for 10 days with lead acetate (10(-6) m), a concentration below the limit of cytotoxicity. Intracellular lead content and cell type-specific enzyme activities were determined. It was found that in enriched cultures neurons stored more lead than glial cells, and each cell type alone stored more lead than in co-culture. Moreover, glial cells but not neurons were more affected by lead in enriched culture than in co-culture. These results show that neuron-glia interactions attenuate the cellular lead uptake and the glial susceptibility to lead, but they do not support the idea of a protective role of astrocytes.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0887-2333
- Volume :
- 12
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Toxicology in vitro : an international journal published in association with BIBRA
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 20654400
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/s0887-2333(97)00089-1