Morphological changes of cultured neuronal and endothelial cells by human albumin

The role of plasma proteins in the mechanisms of brain tissue damage in ischemic events remains to be clarified. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the presence of albumin in the extracellular fluid could induce damage to endothelial and neuronal cells. Neuronal cells from rat fetal brain (15 days) were cultured by using RPMI-1640 containing 10% Serum-Plus and endothelial cells from umbilical vein were also cultured in 96-well plates. The studies were made by using neuronal cells after 4 days of culture (N group) and endothelial cells after 4 days of culture (E4 group) and at confluence (EC group). After discarding the culture fluid, 200 microliters of 5-25% human albumin was added to each well. Microscopic observations were made up to 20 minutes, and then immunostaining was done with anti-human albumin antibody. The swelling of neurons was observed immediately after application of albumin solution, and the cells became circular after 10 minutes. In the E4 group, similar morphological changes were observed, but no such changes were seen in the EC group. Immunostaining revealed the presence of albumin in the intracellular space in both the N and E4 groups, but not the EC group. Our results suggest that albumin in extravasated fluid can induce damage to neuronal cells and endothelial cells in the non-confluent state.