Exposure to manganese (Mn) causes a neurodegenerative syndrome with clinical manifestations of Parkinsonism (PS) similar to Parkinson’s disease (PD). Although both PD and Mn-induced PS feature movement dysfunction resulting from decreased striatal dopamine, pathologically, Mn-induced PS is thought to be related to striatal degeneration, while in PD, dopaminergic neuron bodies residing in the substantia nigra pars compacta are largely affected. Recent evidence has suggested that astrocytes, glial cells that play a vital role in maintaining homeostasis such as uptake and release of important molecules like precursors for neurotransmitters, may play a vital role in neuronal survival in PD and PS. In order to determine whether the regional differences in sensitivity to Mn are conferred by inherent differences in astrocytes from these brain regions I examined the role of such astrocytes in neuron survival. Contact co-cultures of two neuron-like immortalized cell lines, MES and SH-SY5Y cells, were made with astrocytes from the ventral mesencephalon (vm), striatum (str), and cortex (ctx). These were treated with 10μM and 100μM of Mn and stained for the markers MAP2, TH, and GFAP, imaged, and neurons were counted. Based on previous results, MES cells grown with str astrocytes are expected to have a lower survival rate when treated with Mn, versus those plated with vm and ctx astrocytes. If this trend is observed in the separate SH-SY5Y cell line, this would suggest other neuron-like cell lines and dopaminergic neurons respond similarly to Mn. By examining if Mn affects astrocytes, and in turn neuron survival, this could not only elucidate the pathogenesis of Mn-induced PS, but also elucidate the region specific astrocyte-neuron relationships in the brain.