Amoeboid microglial cells (brain macrophages) were purified from early post-natal mouse brain cultures. The percentage of cells stained with an anti-Mac-1 antibody was greater than 95%. Stimulation of these brain macrophages by lipopolysaccharides induced the synthesis of interleukin-1 (IL-1), which, in part, remained associated with the cell surface and, in part, was released into the culture medium. In contrast, pure primary astrocyte cultures and cell lines of transformed or immortalised astrocytes did not synthesise significant amounts of IL-1, demonstrating that amoeboid microglia and not astrocytes synthesise IL-1 in vitro. These physiological data were confirmed by RNA hybridisation studies showing that, on LPS treatment, brain macrophages synthesise significant amounts of IL-1 alpha and IL-1 beta mRNAs.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Neuropsychological functioning in hebephrenic patients. Comparison between visual and auditory stimuli initially projected either in one or in both cerebral hemispheres].

The performances of 14 hebephrenic patients and 14 normal subjects were studied through visual and auditory tests concerning the comparison of the number of stimuli projected either in the left, or in the right, or in both cerebral hemispheres. Schizophrenic patients were less efficient than normal subjects and, in both populations, no difference in the performances with regard to the locus of projection was observed. This suggests that information processing in schizophrenia might be deficient not only at the level of interhemispheric connections, but also in intrahemispheric functioning.

Acoustic Stimulation↗