Hypercapnia and Hypoxia Stimulate Proliferation of Astrocytes and Neurons In Vitro

We compared proliferative activity and hypoxic tolerance in a co-culture of neurons and astrocytes in vitro after preliminary exposure to normobaric hypoxia and/or permissive hypercapnia in vivo. Preliminary hypoxic exposure increased the cell index throughout the 72-h period of observation, the effect of hypercapnia was observed on days 1 and 3 of the experiment, and the effect of hypercapnic hypoxia was noted only on day 1. Preliminary hypoxic exposure has a protective effect on nerve cells under conditions of chemical hypoxia. This suggests that hypercapnia and hypoxia activate proliferative activity of nerve cells, which can be viewed as a mechanism of their neuroprotective effectiveness.