In accord with these in vivo findings, in vitro studies showed that microglia-conditioned media enhanced ethanol-induced ROS production and oxidative stress in cultured hypothalamic neuronal cells and increased apoptotic cell death (Boyadjieva and Sarkar 2013a). Through these mechanisms, as well as the ethanol-related decreases in antioxidants discussed earlier, ethanol-activated microglia can induce apoptotic cell death and cell death in cultured fetal hypothalamic neurons from rat, suggesting that microglia may help facilitate ethanol-induced neurotoxicity by ROS.
