Enteric glial cells are major contributors to formation of cyclic AMP in myenteric plexus cultures from adult guinea-pig small intestine

Cultures derived from ganglia isolated from the small intestine of adult guinea-pigs were used to determine relative contribution of neurons and glial cells to stimulation of cAMP formation by forskolin in myenteric ganglia. In untreated cultures (8–12 days), the ratio of glial cells to neurons was 5-fold higher than the ratio in intact myenteric plexus preparations. Treatment with cytosine arabinoside virtually eliminated the glia by the 12th day. Microelectrode recording of excitatory responses to forskolin in AH/Type 2 neurons confirmed the viability of cultured neurons in cytosine arabinoside. Forskolin elevated the cAMP content of cultures and cytosine arabinoside reduced this effect by 80–90%. This suggests that enteric glial cells are the major contributors to cAMP formation in the cultures and that glial cells contribute significantly to elevation of cAMP levels seen in intact myenteric ganglia.