Abstract
Bovine serum albumin (BSA) is generally used in biomedical experiments. In the solution of some reagents, BSA is necessary to maintain the stability and concentration of the effective component. Therefore, the potential impact of BSA on experimental results should not be neglected when BSA is used. In this study, we observed that BSA induced significant upregulation of mRNA expression and release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, IL-1β, and TNF-α, by N9 microglial cells. Our results suggest that the effects of BSA should be taken into account in experiments on microglia or the central nervous system when BSA is used. In light of the high similarity and homology among mammalian albumins, our findings also indicate that serum albumin may be a potent trigger of cytokine release by microglia.
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This study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 30572167, 30471781 and 30330220).
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Zhao, Tz., **a, Yz., Li, L. et al. Bovine serum albumin promotes IL-1β and TNF-α secretion by N9 microglial cells. Neurol Sci 30, 379–383 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-009-0123-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-009-0123-x