Inflammatory Neurodegeneration Mediated by Nitric Oxide from Activated Glia-Inhibiting Neuronal Respiration, Causing Glutamate Release and Excitotoxicity

Glia undergo inflammatory activation in most CNS pathologies and are capable of killing cocultured neurons. We investigated the mechanisms of this inflammatory neurodegeneration using a mixed culture of neurons, microglia, and astrocytes, either when the astrocytes were activated directly with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) or LPS/IFN-γ-activated microglia were added to mixed neuronal cultures. In either case, activated glia...