Studies of cytokines in nerve tissue cultures.

The effects of cortexin, epithalamin, and synthetic peptides on the growth of processes in sensory neurons and on the development of fragments of cortical and subcortical brain structures were studied in organotypic cultures from 10-11-day chick embryos. Cortexin (20 and 100 ng/ml), epithalamin (20 and 200 ng/ml), polypeptides M and P (2 and 20 ng/ml) had neurite-stimulating actions, evident on day 3 of dorsal root ganglion culture. Addition of cortexin (100 ng/ml) or polypeptide M (20 ng/ml) to the culture medium of cerebral cortex explants stimulated explant development. Addition of cortexin at the same concentration to explants of subcortical formations suppressed their development. Epithalamin (200 ng/ml) or polypeptide M (100 ng/ml) stimulated the development of explants from subcortical formations, the existence of the neurite-stimulating effect effects of these cytokines provided the basis for identifying the mechanism of action of brain peptides.