I am doing primary neuronal cultures (mix of neurons and astrocytes) from mice. One year ago we moved and changed labs and since that time I am not able to grow nice neurons (either they don't start growing or die very soon into the differentiation). I did some mycoplasma screening and in some samples I found out the contamination but at a very low level. So here's my question, how fragile neurons are to mycoplasma and also is it possible to make primary culture from animals and avoid mycoplasma contamination at all?
Yes, mycoplasma can interfere with growth, survival and behavior of neuronal cells (primary DRGs in my case). Ironically I threw them away, but in later collections I treated them with effective mycoplasma-eradication products such as Normocin which I used as a routine addition there after. Some products have been shown to eliminate mycoplasma from living culture though, and restore cell behavior and responses within days or weeks after treatment such as Plasmocin. For more info read (https://www.biocompare.com/Editorial-Articles/170554-Clean-Your-Cultures-with-These-Mycoplasma-Elimination-Tools/)