On the Role of Glial Cells in the Mammalian Nervous System UPTAKE, EXCRETION, AND METABOLISM OF PUTATIVE NEUROTRANSMITTERS BY CULTURED GLIAL TUMOR CELLS

Intraamniotic infection is associated with increased IL-1 activity in amniotic fluid, increased incidence of preterm labor, and with decreased incidence of respiratory distress syndrome in infants born prematurely. We hypothesized that an elevated IL-1 in amniotic fluid promotes fetal lung maturation. On day 23 or 25 of gestation (term 31 d), either IL-1alpha (150 or 1,500 ng per fetus) or its antagonist IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra, 20 microg) was injected to the amniotic fluid sacs in one uterine horn, whereas the contralateral amniotic sacs were injected with vehicle. Within 40 h, IL-1alpha caused a dose-dependent increase in surfactant protein-A (SP-A) and SP-B mRNAs (maximally, fivefold), without affecting lung growth or increasing inflammatory cells in the lung. Both genders, and upper and lower lung lobes were similarly affected. IL-1ra did not modify SP-A, -B, or -C mRNA. IL-1 increased the intensity of staining of alveolar type II cells for SP-B, and the concentrations of SP-B, -A, and disaturated phosphatidylcholine in bronchoalveolar lavage. The dynamic lung compliance and the postventilatory expansion of lungs were increased two- to fourfold after IL-1alpha treatment. In fetal lung explants, IL-1alpha increased the expression of SP-A mRNA. IL-1 in amniotic fluid in preterm labor may promote lung maturation and thus be part of a host-defense mechanism that prepares the fetus for extrauterine life.

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Intraamniotic interleukin-1 accelerates surfactant protein synthesis in fetal rabbits and improves lung stability after premature birth

Ependym und Circumventriculäre Organe

A major monoaminergic innervation in infant rat neocortex, predominantly in layer IV, has been demonstrated by ultrastructural and biochemical studies after the administration of exogenous catecholamine precursors and congeners. One-third of all cortical synapses have an uptake-storage mechanism for catecholamines. In newborn cortex, the storage capacity for catecholamines is tenfold greater than the endogenous levels, and the uptake-storage mechanism matures earlier than the ability to synthesize neurotransmitter.

B.K. Schrier

Papers

Cell cultures of fetal rat brain: growth and marker enzyme development.

Pineal gland cells in culture. Morphology, Biochemistry, Differentiation, and co-culture with sympathetic neurons.

Effects of N6-monobutyryl-cyclic AMP on glutamate decarboxylase activity in fetal rat brain cells and glial tumor cells in culture.