The Effect of Stimulated Microglia Conditioned Media on BDNF Gene Expression of Striatal Astrocytes: Quantification by Real-time PCR

It is well accepted that there is mutual relation between glia-glia and glia-neuron in the central nervous system. In the present study, the authors aimed to evaluate the effect of microglia conditioned medium (MCM) on brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene expression of astrocytes by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Real-time PCR is one of the most recent techniques for determination of gene expression. It is the first choice when sensitivity, specifity and cost effectiveness are concerned. The authors present, for the first time, the settings of real-time PCR for quantification of BDNF gene expression of rat strital astrocytes. Astrocytes that cultured- from the striatum were incubated with conditioned medium of either Zymosan A stiumulated or unstimulated microglia which were cultured from striatum and cortex of the rat pups. Our results have shown that incubation with stimulated striatal MCM induced BDNF gene expression of striatal astrocytes (1.33 fold) when compared to astrocytes treated with regular medium or unstimulated striatal MCM. We have also seen the similar effect with cortical MCM implying that effect of MCM does not change with regionally different microglia.