Selected nutrients reduce the pyruvate requirement for survival in vitro of chick central nervous system neurons
✍ Scribed by L. Facci; S. D. Skaper; S. Varon
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1985
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 532 KB
- Volume
- 14
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0360-4012
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✦ Synopsis
Central nervous system neurons, cultured as monolayers at low density, need exogenous pyruvate for their survival. The pyruvate concentrations required by embryonic day 8 (E8) chick forebrain neurons are reduced substantially by other low molecular weight agents present in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) and in astroglia-conditioned Eagle's basal medium (EBM). To examine the nature of these pyruvate-sparing molecules, E8 chick forebrain neurons were cultured in EBM containing a concentration of pyruvate too low to support neuronal survival, unless sparing agents were supplied. This strategy permitted the identification of the pyruvate-sparing DMEM constituents, omission of which had led to neuronal loss. Pyruvate sparing required a mixture of' (i) serine, (ii) pyridoxal (or riboflavin and biotin), and (iii) six essential amino acids: arginine, cystine, leucine, isoleucine, tyrosine, and tryptophan (each replaceable by corresponding amino acids, except tryptophan). All pyruvate-sparing contributors were optimally needed at or near their DMEM concentrations.