Both astrocytes and microglia have been shown to secrete numerous cytokines, and it is now widely accepted that these cells actively participate in an integrative communicative pathway between resident immune cells of the central nervous system (CNS) and those of the periphery. While clearly implicated in the initiation, maintenance, and suppression of immune responses, cytokines produced by these cells (e.g. astrocytes and microglia), as well as the responses of these cells to cytokines produced elsewhere, have also been shown to induce CNS damage. The glial cells, especially the astroglia constitutes a prominent part of the brain cell volume. Astroglial properties are difficult to study in the human CNS. In this report, we demonstrate the successful culture system of a human fetal astrocytes. We confirmed the astrocyte by glial fibrillary acidic protein, an astrocyte marker. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF-${alpha}$) expression was investigated in human fetal astrocyte in response to interleukin-1. TNF-${alpha}$ expression was assessed by RT-PCR. This culture system could be served as a valuable tool for the establishmet of normative data, the experimental models for neurodevelopment and neurogenesis as well as for the studies for cytokine effects in the brain.