[Effect of tryptophan and kynurenine on the cellular proliferation in the organotypic tissue culture of brain cortex in young and old rats.]

ABSTRACT

Metabolic disorders of L-kinurenin, which is an intermediate product of the breakdown of genetically encoded amino acid L-tryptophan, is one of the links in the development of a number of neuropathological processes. The influence of tryptophan and kynurenine on cell proliferation in organotypic tissue culture of the cerebral cortex in young and old rats was studied. Tryptophan in effective concentration (0,5 ng/ml) inhibited cellular proliferation of the cerebral cortex of young and old rats by 35 and 18%, respectively. However, under the action of kinurenin (1 ng/ml), stimulation of cell proliferation occurred, and more pronounced in the explants of the cerebral cortex of old rats-by 22% compared to the control. The data obtained about the ability of kynurenine to stimulate cellular proliferation in the cerebral cortex of old animals has the potential to create new drugs of nootropic drugs for diseases of the nervous system associated with age.