Setting up alcohol-associated dementia models in vitro with primary-cultured hippocampal neuron and brain slice

Objective To set up the different alcohol-associated dementia (AAD) models in vitro and provide methods for researching the mechanism of AAD.Methods Hippocampal neurons got from fetal rats were primary cultured for 6 days and identified.Then,the cells were treated with different doses of ethanol (25-100 mol/L) for 24 h.The cell viability was analyzed with MTT assay.The staining with Hoechst33342 was used to observe the cell apoptosis.In addition,hippocampi of newbom rats 7-10 days after birth were taken out and cut to 300 μm thickness of slices; the morphological changes of the brain slices were observed with HE staining at different time points after ethanol administration.Results Primary-cultured hippocampal neurons highly expressed neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and lowly expressed glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP).And the cell viability was significantly decreased by ethanol administration (50-100 mol/L,24 h) in a dose-dependent manner.Increased apoptosis cells were detected when cells were treated with 50 mol/L concentration of ethanol for 24 h.For hippocampal slices,acute ethanol administration (50 mol/L,30 min) induced significant cell apoptosis and chronic ethanol administration (50 mol/L,24 h) resulted in the serious damage of hippocampal morphology.Conclusions The models that primary-cultured hippocampal neuron apoptosis induced by chronic ethanol administration is suitable for researching the mechanism of AAD.Hippocampal slices are more sensitive for ethanol toxic effects and may be used for the research of acute alcohol toxicity. Key words: Alcohol-associated dementia;  In vitro study;  Hippocampal neuron;  Primary culture;  Brain slice