Glia-neuron sandwich cocultures: an in vitro approach to evaluate cell-to-cell communication in neuroinflammation and neurotoxicity.

Glia-neuron sandwich cocultures are "in vitro" cell systems suitable to evaluate cell-to-cell interactions relaying on the release of soluble factors, such as proinflammatory cytokines. This chapter presents a protocol to obtain a sandwich coculture from primary rat glial cells and hippocampal neurons. Furthermore, it provides details to evaluate the release of tumor necrosis factor-α by a biological assay and neuronal cell survival, as well as examples of practical application in the investigation of neuroinflammation and its impact on neuronal function.