STUDIES ON EFFECTS OF CULTURE CONDITIONS AND AGE OF DONOR ON HIPPOCAMPAL-NEURONS IN-VITRO

The hippocampus is a brain structure of pivotal role in many physiolog ical and pathological responses including memory formation, epilepsy a nd ischemia. Understanding of these processes requires a good knowledg e of hippocampal neurons. In vitro culture offers a tool to study thes e cells in a controlled environment. In order to optimize culture cond itions several growth parameters were investigated in hippocampal neur onal cultures derived from rats of different age: 18-day old fetuses, newborns and 5-day old rat pups, maintained in either serum-containing or chemically defined media. Usefulness of particular culture conditi ons for special purposes is discussed.