Glial cell growth in culture: influence of living cell substrata

Cell specific-chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan expression during CNS morphogenesis in the chick embryo

There is increasing evidence that proteoglycans, particularly chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPGs), are integral components in the assembly of the extracellular matrix during early stages of histogenesis. The differential expression of several CSPGs in the developing CNS has raised questions on their origin, phenotype (chemical and structural characteristics), regulation of expression and function. The S103L monoclonal antibody has been an invaluable specific reagent to identify and study a large and abundant CSPG in embryonic chick brain. In the present study we demonstrate that during embryogenesis of the chick CNS, the S103L CSPG (B-aggrecan) is synthesized by neurons of all major neuronal cell types but not by astrocytes, is developmentally regulated, and is associated predominantly with neuronal somata, suggesting that neuronal-specific regulatory mechanisms control the expression of the S103L CSPG in culture. Neurons also exhibit differential expression of glycosaminoglycan type (i.e., KS) and sulfation patterns on different CSPGs when compared to astrocytes, meningial cells or chondrocytes, implying the existence of additional, cell type-specific modes of regulation of the final CSPG phenotype (chemical and structural posttranslational characteristics). A specific temporal pattern of expression of the S103L-CSPG was observed which may contribute to conditions that induce or stabilize specific cell phenotypes during CNS development. In contrast, the other major CSPG in the CNS recognized by the HNK-1 antibody, is synthesized by all cell types of different cell lineages over the entire embryonic period, suggesting a more global cell maintenance function for this CSPG.

Influence of culture substrata on the differentiation of advanced passage glial cells in cultures from aged mouse cerebral hemispheres

We have previously reported that glial cells derived from aged mouse cerebral hemispheres (MACH) in primary cultures and after several passages consist of protoplasmic astrocytes (Type 1), differentiated stellate astrocytes (Type 2), a few oligodendrocytes, and also glial precursors. In this study, we examined the influence of culture substrata: plastic, poly-L-lysine, laminin or collagen on the differentiation of MACH glial cells of advanced passages (P18-19) using glutamine synthetase (GS) and cyclic nucleotide phosphohydrolase (CNP) activity as biochemical markers for astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, respectively. Cultures were also examined morphologically using light microscopy. In general, GS activity was increased in cultures grown on the three chemical substrata versus plastic alone with the most striking effect being the 2-fold increase observed in those cells grown in laminin. No differences were noted in CNP activity. Morphologically, proliferation of protoplasmic (Type 1) astrocytes was enhanced by culture day 2 on polylysine substratum and stellate differentiated (Type 2) astrocytes were noted on collagen. The striking feature in cultures grown on laminin was the presence of astrocytes with markedly long processes. Thus, morphological astrocyte differentiation appears to correspond to the increased GS activity. We propose that the extracellular matrix components such as collagen and laminin may play an important role in promoting glial precursors to differentiate into astrocytes.

Differences in neuronal and glial cell phenotypic expression in neuron-glia cocultures: Influence of glia-conditioned media and living glial cell substrata

Neuron-glia cocultures were prepared using, as a source for glial cells, either C6 glia (2B clone) of early (2B23) or late (2B111) passages or advanced passages of glial cells derived from primary cultures prepared from aged mouse cerebral hemispheres (MACH). Six-day-old chick embryo cerebral hemispheres (E6CH) were the source of neuron-enriched cultures. Glutamine synthetase (GS) activity was used as a marker for astrocytes and 2',3'-cyclic nucleotide 3'-phosphohydrolase (CNP) activity was used as a marker for oligodendrocytes. GS activity was markedly enhanced in cocultures of E6CH neurons and 2B23 glioblastic cells, whereas GS activity was reduced in cocultures of E6CH neurons and 2B111 astrocytic glia. In contrast, CNP activity was enhanced in cocultures of C6 glial cells with E6CH neurons. Glial cells from aged mouse brain did not respond to coculturing with E6CH neurons. It appears from these findings that neuronal input enhances the differentiation of glioblastic cells to either astrocytic or oligodendrocytic expression, whereas it decreases the activity of committed astrocytes. In contrast, glial cells from aged mouse brain do not respond to neuronal input. Choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity, a marker for cholinergic neurons, was enhanced only when E6CH cultures were grown in conditioned medium (CM) from 2B23 glioblastic cells. In contrast, ChAT activity was markedly diminished when E6CH neurons were cocultured with MACH glial cells but not when grown in CM from MACH glial cells. Thus, humoral factors from immature glial cells appear to enhance cholinergic neuronal phenotypic expression whereas cell-cell membrane contacts with aged glial cells diminish cholinergic phenotypic expression. The findings present supportive evidence that neuron-glia interrelationships are age dependent.

Comparative biochemical, morphological, and immunocytochemical studies between C-6 glial cells of early and late passages and advanced passages of glial cells derived from aged mouse cerebral hemispheres

We have used C6 glial cells (2B clone), early and late passage, as well as advanced passages (8-17) of glial cells derived from aged (18-month-old) mouse cerebral hemispheres (MACH), as model systems for studying glial properties. In this study passages 20-24 were considered "early" and passages 73-90 were considered "late." Activities of glutamine synthetase (GS) and cyclic nucleotide phosphohydrolase (CNP) were used as biochemical markers for astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, respectively. Glial phenotypes were identified immunocytochemically using double staining for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and A2B5 antigen (type 1 and type 2 astrocytes) or galactocerebroside (GalC) and A2B5 antigen (oligodendrocytes); cells positive for A2B5 and negative for both GFAP and GalC were considered to be precursor cells. Cultures were grown either in DMEM supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum or in serum-free chemically defined medium (CDM) supplemented with insulin and transferrin. We report that early-passage C6 glial cells continue to be bipotential cells and when grown in the absence of serum express high GS and CNP activities correlating with the high number of GFAP- and GalC-positive cells, respectively. Late-passage cells continued to be committed to the type 2 astrocytic phenotype regardless of media composition (+/- serum). MACH cultures consist of protoplasmic type 1 astrocytes, differentiated type 2 astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes as well as glial progenitor cells. When these cultures were grown in CDM+transferrin, both GS and CNP activities increased, suggesting that transferrin has provided the signal for progenitor cells present in these cultures derived from aged brain to differentiate into type 2 astrocytes and oligodendrocytes.

Platelet-activating factor increases glutamine synthetase activity in early and late passage C-6 glioma cells

Previous studies from this laboratory have shown that C-6 rat glioma cells (2B clone) exhibit specific phenotypic characteristics depending on passage in culture and that these populations respond differentially to addition of various exogenous compounds to the medium. Early passage (less than 25) C-6 glial cells express low glutamine synthetase activity (a marker for astrocytes) and with increasing cell passage (greater than 70) C-6 glial cells express more astrocytic properties with respect to both glutamine synthetase (GS) and morphology. In this study, cells from both early (glioblastic) and late (astrocytic) passage were examined for their response to the phospholipid, platelet-activating factor (PAF). We found that PAF increased GS activity in early passage (glioblastic) cells and more importantly it increased GS activity in late passage cells, already committed to the astrocytic phenotype. Furthermore, cells from both passages failed to respond to addition of lyso-PAF, the non-biologically active analog of PAF, to the medium. By following the uptake of 3H-PAF into cells, we observed that greater than 90% of the phospholipid was taken into the cells within the first hour of incubation. We compared the PAF effects with that of dibutyryl cyclic AMP (dBcAMP) and RO20-1724, a phosphodiesterase inhibitor. Cells from the early passage responded to both dBcAMP and RO20-1724 treatments with a significant increase in GS activity whereas cells from the late passage showed no significant change, confirming earlier reports from this laboratory. These findings indicate that the response of C-6 glioma cells to PAF (at least in the late passage) is not mediated via cyclic AMP. We suggest that in early passage cells PAF promotes expression of the astrocytic phenotype and in late passage cells PAF mediates a gliosis-type response.

Evidence for plasticity in neurotransmitter expression in neuronal cultures derived from 3-day-old chick embryo

We have previously reported the developmental profiles of glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) and choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) bio- and immunocytochemically, assessing GABAergic and cholinergic neuronal phenotypes respectively, in neuroblast-enriched cultures from 3-day-old chick embryo, plated on poly-L-lysine. We have also reported that collagen as culture substrate inhibits neuronal aggregation and neuritic fasciculation in this culture system. In this study we assessed the same parameters for cultures on collagen. In addition, we evaluated the effects of nerve growth factors (NGF) on cholinergic and GABAergic expression on neurons plated either on polylysine or collagen. We found that non-neuronal cells and NGF prolonged the survival of cholinergic and GABAergic neuronal populations and that both markedly stimulated GABAergic expression. In contrast, cholinergic expression was only enhanced by NGF. Immunostaining for GABA and ChAT reflected the biochemical findings. Glutamine synthetase and cyclic nucleotide phosphohydrolase, used as markers for astrocytes and oligodendrocytes respectively, showed very low activity in both substrata and were not related to GAD or ChAT peak activities. Our findings suggest that humoral factors and cell-cell contacts markedly influence neuronal phenotypic expression in culture. Moreover, it appears that during early neuronal differentiation GABAergic neurons are more responsive to microenvironmental regulation compared to cholinergic neurons.

Early and late passage C-6 glial cell growth: similarities with primary glial cells in culture

Earlier studies in our laboratory have shown that C-6 glial cells in culture exhibit astrocytic properties with increasing cell passage. In this study, we tested the responsiveness of early and late passage C-6 glial cells to various cultures conditions: culture substrata (collagen, poly-L-lysine, plastic), or supplements for the culture medium, DMEM, [fetal calf, or heat inactivated (HI) serum, or media conditioned from mouse neuroblastoma cells (NBCM) or primary chick embryo cultured neurons (NCM)]. Glutamine synthetase (GS) and cyclic nucleotide phosphohydrolase (CNP), astrocytic and oligodendrocytic glial markers, were used. Cell number and protein content increased exponentially with days in culture regardless of the type of the substratum or cell passage. Differences in cell morphology among the three types of substratum were also reflected on GS activity, which rose by three-fold on culture day 3 for cells grown on collagen; thereafter, GS profiles were similar for all substrata. This early rise in GS is interpreted to reflect differential cell adhesion processes on the substrata; specifically, cell adhesion on the collagen stimulated differentiation into "astrocytic phenotype". Analogous to immature glia cells in primary cultures, early passage C-6 glial cells responded to neuronal factors supplied either from NCM or NBCM by expressing reduced GS activity, the astrocytic marker and enhanced CNP activity, the oligodendrocytic marker. Thus, early passage cells can be induced to express either astrocytic or oligodendrocytic phenotype. In accordance with our previous reports on primary glial cells, late passage C-6 cells exhibit their usual astrocytic behavior, responding to serum factors with GS activity. Moreover, whereas NCM or NBCM alone markedly lowered GS activity, a combination with serum restored activity. The present findings confirm our previous observations and further establish the C-6 glial cells as a reliable model to study immature glia.

Factors influencing neuronal growth in primary cultures derived from 3-day-old chick embryos

We compared neuronal growth patterns in primary cultures prepared by dissociating 3-day-old chick embryos, either whole embryo (E3WE) or head only (E3H) and plating the dispersed cells onto Petri dishes coated with either poly-L-lysine, collagen or laminin. The culture medium was Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium (DMEM), supplemented with either 5 or 10% fetal bovine calf serum (FCS). As we have previously described, in E3WE cultures on poly-L-lysine the neuronal primary growth patterns were aggregation with neuritic fasciculation, presence of growth cones with microspikes and very few flat cells. In contrast with cultures grown on poly-L-lysine, in cultures grown on collagen or laminin the distinct growth pattern was extensive networks of isolated and differentiated neurons lying on acquired monolayers of flat cells. When 5% FCS was used, as compared to 10% FCS, neuronal aggregates were fewer and smaller on poly-L-lysine; on collagen or laminin a tendency to aggregate was observed. Several differences were observed in the E3H cultures when compared to E3WE: (a) aggregates were less numerous with the prevailing pattern being a web-like, self-contained aggregate; (b) aggregates connected with other aggregates or flat cells were rare and the aggregate adhesivity was minimized; (c) neurons on collagen or laminin formed networks with the exception of a few, small aggregates displaying no fasciculation; (d) flat cells did not form a monolayer but islets which hosted the neuronal meshy networks. We attribute these differences in the growth patterns between the various types of cultures to be the combined result of a variety of environmental signals, derived from the provided substrata, the serum and the nonneuronal cell factors and cell surface, all primarily regulating neuronal adhesivity.

Effects of neuron-conditioned medium and fetal calf serum content on glial growth in dissociated cultures

The influence of the microenvironment as assessed by medium conditioned by 6-day-old chick embryo neurons in culture and of the nutrients derived from fetal bovine serum was evaluated in cultures of primary chick embryo glial cells. Glia-enriched cultures from 15-day-old chick embryo were incubated from culture days 3-9 with various concentrations of neuron-conditioned medium, with or without 10% fetal bovine serum in the final culture medium. Also, glial growth was studied in cultures with 5%, 10% or 20% fetal bovine serum in the medium. Glutamine synthetase and 2',3',-cyclic nucleotide 3'-phosphohydrolase were used as astrocytic and oligodendrocytic markers, respectively. Cultures were harvested at day 9. The presence of neuron-conditioned medium in the cultures was associated with persistence of immature glioblast-like cells. This persistence of glial immature cells was also reflected by the lower glutamine synthetase activity in the cultures with neuron-conditioned medium as compared to cultures with neuron-conditioned medium and fetal calf serum. In cultures with 5% neuron-conditioned medium without fetal bovine serum, cyclic nucleotide phosphohydrolase activity was increased. We are assuming that the input of neurons to the microenvironment is partially mediated through the neuron-conditioned medium. Thus, the present findings show that neurons influence the growth and differentiation of glial cells in culture.

Primary glial cells and brain fibroblasts: interactions in culture

Primary glial-enriched cultures were prepared from newborn mouse cerebral hemispheres. The cultures were grown in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium in which L-valine was substituted with D-valine; this medium selectively inhibits the growth of fibroblasts. Using glutamine synthetase and glial fibrillary acidic protein as immunocytochemical markers, cultures in D-valine medium were characterized as being over 80% astrocytic. However, these cultures exhibited a suppressed growth rate and lagged behind in their differentiation as assessed biochemically using DNA content and glutamine synthetase activity as markers for growth and differentiation. Growth was restored when D-valine cultures were grown in medium containing conditioned medium derived from brain fibroblast cultures when grown on matrix or killed substrata derived from brain fibroblast cultures. This in vitro approach offers the possibility of purifying factors and developing immunological probes to investigate the possible role of brain fibroblasts in influencing glial cell function.