Neurons from fetal rat brain in a new cell culture system: a multidisciplinary analysis.

A new culture system for cells from the mammalian brain was developed by a modification of a previously established technique. This modification involved the use of fluorodeoxyuridine and adult horse serum. The cultures contained large, easily visualized neurons both isolated from other neurons and in networks of varying complexity. These cells were large enough to permit reliable intracellular electrophysiologic recording and were often sufficiently dispersed to allow examination of membrane responses to iontophoretically applied neurotransmitter candidates. Many responses characteristic of central neurons in situ were seen, including evoked and spontaneous action potentials, complex patterns of inhibitory and excitatory post-synaptic potentials, and neurotransmitter-induced membrane responses. These preparations were examined by phase contrast microscopy, by light microscopy after silver impregnation and by Nomarski interference optics. Total choline acetyltransferase (CAT) activity was little changed and specific activity was increased in the new culture system as compared with the earilier system. Conditions which gave the highest specific activity of CAT also provided the best cultures from the standpoint of electrophysiologic and morphologic analysis. This new approach will allow, in culture, detailed multidisciplinary analyses of individual neurons and small networks of neurons from the mammalian brain.