COMPARISON OF DOUBLE FLUORESCENCE STAINING AND LDH-TEST FOR MONITORING CELL VIABILITY IN-VITRO

To examine glutamate-mediated toxic effects in dispersed cultures of t he rat cerebral cortex we compared the utility of parameters of cell v iability in parallel. A 1 h exposure to glutamate and glutamate analog ues (kainate, quinolinate, NMDA) was found to produce typical morpholo gical changes in matured cell cultures. The double-labelling fluoresce nce technique (fluorescein diacetate/propidium iodide) reflected the d egeneration process vividly. A significant increase in LDH-activity re leased into the medium was noted only when the cells were stressed but still living. When the phase of progressive cell death was running, L DH activity in the medium decreased markedly. Obviously, increasing LD H release in the culture medium must be considered rather to be an ind icator for a slowly evolving degenerative process than for cell death.