In 4–5-month-old chicken, intravenous injections of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced a dose-dependent fever response and a pronounced increase of circulating interleukin-6 (IL-6). To assess a possible role for IL-6 in the brain of birds, a hypothalamic neuro-glial primary culture from 1-day-old chicken was established. Each well of cultured hypothalamic cells contained some 615 neurons, 1350 astrocytes, and 580 microglial cells on average. Incubation of chicken hypothalamic primary cultures with 10 or 100 µg/ml LPS induced a dose-dependent release of bioactive IL-6 into the supernatant. Populations of hypothalamic neurons (4%) and astrocytes (12%) directly responded to superfusion with buffer containing 10 µg/ml LPS with a transient increase of intracellular calcium, a sign of direct cellular activation. Stimulation of hypothalamic cultures with buffer containing 50 ng/ml chicken IL-6 induced calcium signaling in 11% of neurons and 22% of astrocytes investigated. These results demonstrate that IL-6 is produced in the periphery and in the hypothalamus in response to LPS in chicken. The observed cellular responses of hypothalamic cells to chicken IL-6 indicate that this cytokine may readily be involved in the manifestation of fever in the avian hypothalamus.

中文翻译：

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鸡下丘脑的神经元和星形胶质细胞直接对脂多糖和鸡白介素6产生反应

在 4-5 个月大的鸡中，细菌脂多糖 (LPS) 的静脉注射诱导剂量依赖性发热反应和循环白细胞介素 6 (IL-6) 的显着增加。为了评估 IL-6 在鸟类大脑中的可能作用，建立了来自 1 日龄鸡的下丘脑神经胶质原代培养物。每孔培养的下丘脑细胞平均含有约 615 个神经元、1350 个星形胶质细胞和 580 个小胶质细胞。用 10 或 100 µg/ml LPS 孵育鸡下丘脑原代培养物会诱导生物活性 IL-6 剂量依赖性释放到上清液中。下丘脑神经元 (4%) 和星形胶质细胞 (12%) 群体对灌注含有 10 µg/ml LPS 的缓冲液有直接反应，细胞内钙离子瞬时增加，这是直接细胞活化的标志。用含有 50 ng/ml 鸡 IL-6 的缓冲液刺激下丘脑培养物在 11% 的神经元和 22% 的星形胶质细胞中诱导钙信号传导。这些结果表明，IL-6 在外周和下丘脑中产生，以响应鸡的 LPS。观察到的下丘脑细胞对鸡 IL-6 的细胞反应表明，这种细胞因子可能很容易参与禽类下丘脑发热的表现。