[Effect of serotonin on the development of tissue cultures of the cerebral cortex in the rat].

The paper deals with morpho-functional development of the visual area of newborn rats cerebral cortex in conditions of prolonged (up to 40 days) organotypical cultivation and with the effect of serotonin (5-OT) on these processes. It has been shown that systematic addition of physiological concentrations of 5-OT to the nutrient medium during explantates cultivation, stimulates glia proliferation, neurones differentiation, neuropyl formation, synaptogenesis and axones myelinization. In media with 5-OT, spontaneous activity of neurones develops earlier, the number of active cells increases by 33%, neurones with periodical bursts prevail in all periods studied. Development of neurones in the medium with 5-OT changes their sensitivity to 5-OT, which becomes close to that in situ.