Figure 3
From: Astrocytes acquire resistance to iron-dependent oxidative stress upon proinflammatory activation
Conditioned medium from LPS-activated microglia protects astrocytes from iron-mediated toxicity. (A) A monolayer of astrocytes was grown for 24 h with conditioned medium from either quiescent microglia (MCM[−]) or 10 ng/ml LPS-activated microglia (MCM[+]). Following acute iron overload, astrocytes, treated with MCM[−], underwent iron oxidation and membrane damage detected by fura-2 variations. MCM[+]-treated astrocytes showed resistance. The traces represent the fluorescence intensity analyzed with a plate reader and expressed as RFU. (B) Pure cultures of astrocytes were left untreated (C) or treated for 24 h with either cytokines (CK) or MCM[+], and analyzed 90 min after acute iron overload. Cell viability was measured by MTT assay. Statistical significance (***p < 0.001) was calculated using one-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni post hoc test.