12279-41-3

Melanocortin receptor

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone (ACTH) (1-39), human (ACTH 1-39), a member of the melanocortin family, stimulates production of CS by the adrenals, but melanocortin receptors are also found in the central nervous system (CNS) and on immune cells. ACTH 1-39 protects neurons in vitro from several apoptotic, excitotoxic and inflammation-related insults. The conditioned medium (CM) is prepared from untreated astroglia (AS) cultures and from AS cultures treated with 200 nM ACTH 1-39 for 24 h, washed to remove ACTH 1-39, then incubated for another 24 h in DMEM. In initial experiments, no difference is found in oligodendroglia (OL) viability in the presence of OL definedmediumwith 2% newborn calf serum (NCS) or AS CM (prepared in DMEM with no serum). After 24 h, OL death under each condition varies between 1 and 4%. Similar results for OL viability are obtained with microglia (MG) CM. In subsequent experiments, controls in each experiment consist of OL in defined medium with 2% NCS.