Evaluation of Neurotoxicity of Mercury Compounds and Aluminum in Cell Cultures

................................................................................................. 9 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 11 REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ............................................................ 13 Neurotoxicology in vitro........................................................................................13 Characteristics of the central nervous system cells ......................................13 Cell/tissue culture models for studying neurotoxicity..................................14 BBB models..................................................................................................15 Neurotoxicity of mercury.......................................................................................17 Neurotoxicity of aluminum....................................................................................22 AIMS OF THE STUDY ............................................................................. 25 MATERIALS AND METHODS................................................................ 26 Cell cultures ...........................................................................................................26 Origin of the cells .........................................................................................26 Primary astrocytes (II)..................................................................................26 Pig RPE cells (III) ........................................................................................26 Human RPE cell line D407 (I,III) ................................................................27 Human RPE cell line ARPE-19 (IV)............................................................27 Rat brain endothelial cell line RBE4 (IV) ....................................................28 Human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells (I,IV)..............................................28 Human U-373 MG gliobastoma cells (I,IV).................................................28 Preparation of metal solutions and exposure (I-IV)...............................................29 Mitochondrial enzyme activity (WST-1 measurement) (I,III) ..............................29 Apoptosis measurement (activation of caspase 3)(I) .............................................29