DECREASED SURVIVAL OF HIPPOCAMPAL-NEURONS IN MEDIUM CONDITIONED BY FIBROBLASTS FROM AGED AND ALZHEIMER DONORS

Medium conditioned by fibroblasts promotes survival and neurite outgrowth of cultured hippocampal neurons. Sub-confluent cultures of cells from normal young, aged and Alzheimer donors conditioned serum-free medium for 2 days. Hippocampal neurons from 18- to 19-day-old embryos were maintained in medium conditioned by skin fibroblasts from young, aged or Alzheimer donors. One, 4 and 7 days after plating the cells were examined for morphological differences. Neuron survival four days after plating was found to be the highest in medium conditioned by young aged Alzheimer cells. These findings suggest that both aged and Alzheimer donors secrete less of the substances that are necessary for survival and neurite outgrowth of hippocampal neurons. This provides further evidence that non-neuronal cells demonstrate abnormalities during aging and Alzheimer's disease. © 1990.