Activity and isoenzyme pattern of lactate dehydrogenase in neurons and astroblasts cultured from brains of chick embryos.

Primary cultures of neurons and glial cells (astroblasts) prepared from brains of 8-day-old and 15-day-old chick embryos, respectively, were grown for periods between 3 and 19 days. Specific activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) increased in both types of cultures as a function of time and was always significantly higher in glial cells than in neurons. Glial cell extracts were found to contain predominantly the anaerobic isoenzymatic form of LDH (LDH-M4), and this pattern did not change over a period of 19 days. Cultured neurons contained predominantly the aerobic isoenzymatic form LDH-H4, and there was a progressive appearance of all other isoenzymes over an 8-day period. These results support the hypothesis of a different energy metabolism in neurons and glia.