A spontaneously immortalized mouse microglial cell line expressing CD4.

We have derived a microglial clone, named C8-B4, from the 8-day mouse cerebellum organ culture which gave rise to distinct astroglial cell lines as previously reported. Indeed, the C8-B4 clone expresses classical microglial markers (MAC1, F4/80, 2-4G2) and appears to be derived from a committed microglial precursor since it does not express differentiation antigens present during the early stage of the monocytic lineage. This microglial clone expresses two characteristics not previously reported for microglial cell lines: it synthesizes the CD4 molecule and produces and releases large amounts of glutamate.