Brain primary cultures and vibrodissociated cells as tools for the study of astroglial properties and functions

The glial cells, especially the astroglia constitute a prominent part of th e brain cell volume. Astroglial properties are difficult to study in the in tact nervous system. For that reason, different in vitro models have been d eveloped. The development of cell and tissue cultivation conditions has bee n the prerequisite to our present knowledge of the biochemistry and pharmac ology of glial cells and to some extent even neurons. It is, however, an ad vantage if results from tissue culture can be evaluated in more in vivo lik e systems. We here describe a method for acute isolation of freshly prepare d neurons and glial cells.