Acción del factor de crecimiento epidérmico sobre el desarrollo de las células estriatales cultivadas

Abstract

This paper describes the effect of epidermal growth factor (EGF) on embryonic striatal cells in mixed neuronal-glial cultures prepared from 16-17 day old rat embryos. In the culture system employed, cell population was cultured for 20-24 hours in serum supplemented medium prior to being treated with 20 ng/mL epidermal growth factor (EGF) serum-free medium. This early withdrawal of serum from the culture medium caused an appreciable decline of viable cells in both control and treated cultures. It seems that the majority of surviving cells were precursors, taking into account their proliferative capacity. EGF action on cell population provoked an increase in cell numbers, mainly due to the stimulation of neuronal precursor and and astrocyte proliferation. This increase in cell proliferation was accompanied by neuronal morphological differentiation delay when compared to control cultures. Choline acetyltransferase specific activity detected in 16- day old cultures, showed the differentiation of a cholinergic neuronal subpopulation, which responded to nerve growth factor treatment with enhanced enzyme activity.