Objective: 

It has been demonstrated that some antioxidants may have trophic effects on cell growth and metabolism besides their protective effects against oxidative damage. Glutathione (GSH), ascorbic acid and a-tocopherol are main antioxidants in many cell types. The purpose of this study is to examine the proliferative effects of glutathione (GSH), ascorbic acid and a-tocopherol in astrocyte cultures.

Methods: 

Primary mixed astroglial cultures were prepared from the frontal cortex of 1-2 days-old neonatal rats. Cells were grown in DMEM containing 10% foetal calf serum and 20 mM glutamine, passaged and re-seeded in 96 well plates (104 cells/well). Astrocytes were treated with GSH (0.1, 0.5 and 1 mM), ascorbic acid (0.1, 0.5 and 1 mM) and a-tocopherol (0.05, 0.25 and 0.5 mM) in DMEM whereas the control group was treated with DMEM alone. After 48 hours, the cell viability and proliferation rate in the cultures were measured by the tetrazolium salt XTT; sodium,3'-[1-[phenylamino-carbonyl]-3,4-tetrazolium]-bis(4-methoxy-6-nitro) assay. Student-t test was used to evaluate the differences between the groups and p-value smaller than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: 

All antioxidants enhanced the proliferation rate in the mixed astroglial cultures compared with control (p< 0.05) whereas the most significant effect was observed in 1 mM ascorbic acid-treated group.

Conclusions: 

The present findings suggest that antioxidants such as glutathione (GSH), ascorbic acid and a-tocopherol, may have stimulatory effects on viability and proliferation of mixed astroglial cultures.