Selective adherence of neurons and glial cells from dissociated cerebral and spinal cord microcarrier cultures.

In stationary cultures of dissociated brain and spinal cord grown on microcarriers (MCs), the neuronal and ependymal cells attached to the MCs forming floating aggregates in which they grow in a three-dimensional pattern. The glial and meningeal elements on the contrary, tend to dissociate from the aggregates and adhere to the plastic dish where they divide to form a monolayer. This different behavior of CNS components is not observed in rotating cultures in which all CNS cells remain attached to the MCs and develop into mature floating structures. This cell separation in stationary MC-cultures which is documented here by SEM and immunocytochemistry, may be useful for analysis and evaluation of the metabolic biochemical events of each of the cellular components derived from the same culture.

In situ hybridization histochemistry in the diagnosis of viral infections of the central nervous system.

In situ hybridization histochemistry opened new perspectives for the study of viral infections of the central nervous system. Immunohistochemistry can give information about the presence of a viral infection only, if the specific viral proteins are expressed in the infected cells, while in situ hybridization can detect viral genes also in case of a latent, non-productive infection. The basic technique has to be modified according to the kind of viral nucleic acid to be displayed (genomic DNA, plus or minus strand genomic RNA, viral mRNA). For detection, the highly sensitive radioactive or the less sensitive non-radioactive (enzyme-) labels can be applied. For the determination of the cell type harbouring the virus and for correlation of viral nucleic acids with viral proteins, in situ hybridization techniques and immunohistochemistry have to be combined.