CYTOKINE AND FREE-RADICAL PRODUCTION BY PORCINE MICROGLIA

Swine have been used increasingly as an animal model for a variety of immunologic purposes. Because the functional activities of porcine mic roglia, the resident macrophages of the brain, have not been elucidate d, highly enriched porcine microglial cell cultures were developed in the present study to assess cytokine and free radical production by th ese cells compared to microglia of human and murine origin. Porcine mi croglial cells were found to behave similarly to both human and murine cells in releasing tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-1 and in generating superoxide anion. In contrast to murine cells, porcine m icroglial cells, like human cells, failed to generate NO in response t o cytokine stimulation. These findings suggest that swine will serve a s an excellent model for investigations of central nervous system dise ases in which microglia are involved in host defense or neuronal injur y. (C) 1996 Academic Press Inc.