Pharmacology and Neuroscience
Purkinje neuron survival after 24 or 36 hour exposure to alcohol in culture. Coverslips were removed from the culture medium and immediately stained with fluorescein diacetate (FDA) and propidium iodide (PI). FDA stains living cells green and PI stains the nucleus of dead cells orange-red. The upper photomicrograph was taken after 24 hr exposure to 100 mM ethanol. No surviving PN's were seen. The lower photomicrograph was taken after 36 hr exposure to 50 mM alcohol. Note numerous green cells with typical Purkinje neuron morphology throughout the field and three large gila cells, one at the upper right and two in the lower center of the image. Because PNs are the overwhelming majority of large neurons in the culture and this large morphologic difference that distinguishes them from glia, Pns are easily identified. Other preliminary findings showed alcohol at 75 mM yielded intermediate rates of survival.
