Effects of Cerebrolysin on in vitro primary microglial and astrocyte rat cell cultures.

In recent years the potential use of neurotrophic factors in the prevention and/or treatment of neurodegenerative diseases has received much attention. To determine whether Cerebrolysin®, a porcine brain-derived peptide preparation, was able to modulate in vitro lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced microglial activation and to test the direct effect of Cerebrolysin® on astrocyte morphology, survival and proliferation, rat glial and astrocyte cell culture experiments were carried out. The morphology of microglia, ameboid/activated and flat/resting, was examined under contrast microscopy and cell counts obtained. In addition, the release of interleukin (IL)-1β and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) was measured from cell culture supernatant using an enzyme-linked-immunoassay (ELISA). The results obtained in this study clearly suggest a protective effect of Cerebrolysin® as revealed by downregulation of microglial activation after LPS treatment as well as by the control of IL-1β expression. No significant differences were observed on astrocyte morphology, survival or the production and/or release of BDNF. In conclusion, these in vitro studies indicate that Cerebrolysin® might exert a neuroimmunotrophic function which can in turn reduce the extent of inflammation and accelerate neuronal death under pathological conditions such as human neurodegenerative disorders.