RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Insulin promotes electrical coupling between cultured sympathetic neurons
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 1675
OP 1679
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.05-07-01675.1985
VO 5
IS 7
A1 EJ Wolinsky
A1 PH Patterson
A1 AL Willard
YR 1985
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/5/7/1675.abstract
AB Placing neurons in tissue culture is one way to study how environmental factors affect their differentiation. Replacement of serum- supplementation of the culture medium with defined ingredients extends the experimenter's control of the culture environment; however it also introduces additional potential influences. In this report, we confirm the observation of Higgins and Burton (Higgins, D., and H. Burton (1982) Neuroscience 7:2241–2253) of increased frequency of electrical coupling in serum-free compared to serum-supplemented cultures of rat sympathetic neurons. In addition, experiments were performed to determine whether this effect results from the removal of serum or from the addition of the defined medium components to the culture environment. The results of testing individual ingredients of the defined medium recipe adapted for use on sympathetic neurons (Bottenstein, J.E., and G. H. Sato (1979) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 76:514–517) show that insulin is capable of inducing electrical coupling in serum-free cultures. Thus, the formation of electrical synapses by sympathetic neurons can be hormonally regulated.