Production of interleukin-10 by mouse glial cells in culture.

In this study, we examined the production of IL-10 by glial cells in vitro. IL-10 was detected in the culture supernatants of microglia and in the cell lysate of astrocytes by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. We also detected IL-10 mRNA and IL-10 receptor mRNA in both microglia and astrocytes. The expression of IL-10 mRNA, as well as the production of IL-10 protein, was enhanced by the stimulation of these cells with lipopolysaccharide(LPS). Recombinant IL-10 effectively suppressed both LPS-induced cytokine production and IFN-gamma-induced class II major histocompatibility complex antigen expression by microglia. These results suggest that IL-10 is produced in the CNS and plays a role as an inhibitory regulator in the CNS cytokine network.