Adverse effects of phenobarbital on morphological and biochemical development of fetal mouse spinal cord neurons in culture

Abstract

The effects of chronic phenobarbital treatment on neuronal development were assessed in cell cultures of fetal rodent spinal cord. The activity of the principal enzyme involved in acetylcholine synthesis, choline acetyltransferase (CAT), and counts of large spinal cord neurons were used as indicators of neuronal development. Phenobarbital (30 to 120 m̈g/ml) added to cultures for two- or six-week periods produced dose-dependent decreases in both CAT activity and neuron counts. Barbituric acid at doses equimolar to those at which phenobarbital produced these decreases had no effect.