The Influence of LPS-Treated BV2 Supernatants on Glutamate Induced Cell Death in HT22 Cells
Robinson, Raleigh
Robinson, Raleigh
Citations
Altmetric:
Soloist
Composer
Publisher
Date
2025-05-19
Additional date(s)
Abstract
Alzheimer's disease (AD) was the fifth leading cause of death in people over 65 in 2021, and an estimated 13 million Americans will have AD by 2050. AD is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by memory loss and cognitive decline due to neuronal cell death. While the exact causes are still being studied, neuroinflammation, or inflammation in the brain, is known to play a role, with microglial cells immune cells of the brain being a key contributor. When overactivated, microglia release excessive inflammatory molecules, which may contribute to AD progression. To investigate this, we used HT22 cells, a mouse neuronal cell, and BV2 cells, a mouse microglial cell that produces inflammatory molecules in their "conditioned" media. We treated HT22 cells with glutamate to induce cell death and exposed them to BV2-conditioned media, then measured cell survival to determine if inflammatory molecules contribute to neuronal death. Unexpectedly, we found that BV2-conditioned media reduced the toxic effects of glutamate and promoted neuron survival. These findings suggest that microglial cells may have protective as well as harmful effects in AD, highlighting the complexity of neuroinflammation in disease progression.