Lipopolysaccharides (LPS), up-regulate the IL-1-mRNA and down-regulate the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and glutamine synthetase (GS)-mRNAs in astroglial primary cultures.

The effect of lipopolysaccharides (LPS), a component of gram-negative bacteria, has been studied in both exponentially growing and confluent morphologically differentiated astroglial cells in primary cultures. The expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and Glutamine Synthetase (GS) were investigated in parallel with proliferation and expression of IL-1 beta-mRNA. During the exponential growth, proliferation was severely inhibited by LPS. The effect was time- and dose-dependent. On confluent differentiated cells LPS induced an inhibition of cell proliferation which was associated with a down-regulation of GFAP-mRNA, GS-mRNA and GS expressions and with a transitory increase in IL-1 beta mRNA expression. The observed effects might interact with the astroglial developmental program and with the astroglial function.