SUBLETHAL IN-VITRO GLUCOSE-OXYGEN DEPRIVATION PROTECTS CULTURED HIPPOCAMPAL-NEURONS AGAINST A SUBSEQUENT SEVERE INSULT

RAT and gerbil hippocampus exposed to a sublethal period of ischemia b ecomes resistant to a subsequent period of lethal ischemia induced sev eral days later, a phenomenon referred to as ischemic preconditioning. Here we describe ischemic preconditioning induced in vitro in culture d hippocampal neurons. Mixed neuroglial hippocampal cell cultures of 1 4-17 DIV were exposed to a combined glucose and oxygen deprivation (GO D). Cultures subjected to 90 min, but not 60 min, of GOD showed extens ive degeneration after a 1 day recovery period. An episode of 60 min o f preconditioning GOD followed 1 and 2 days later by 90 min of GOD res ulted in 40-60% protection. The data demonstrate that ischemic precond itionng can be mimicked in an in vitro hippocampal cell culture system . (C) 1998 Rapid Science Ltd.