title: Comparison of glutamate and N-methyl-D-aspartate toxicities on rat mesencephalic primary cell cultures.
abstract: Excitotoxicities of glutamate and NMDA were studied on primary cultures of rat embryonic substantia nigra. The toxicity of the general neuronal population (identified with neuron specific enolase-NSE) was compared with that of dopaminergic neurons (identified with TH antibodies). We have shown that there exists a time-dependent toxicity to glutamate in 9 d old cultures in vitro and exposures as short as 5 min are significantly toxic. By comparing the effects of long time exposures (24 h) to NMDA and glutamate, we can show dose-dependent toxicity; however NMDA shows a less marked effect, especially at high doses (> 500-1000 microM) as opposed to less potent lower doses (< 500 microM). In comparison to the general population of NSE-positive mesencephalic neurons, TH-positive neurons seem to exhibit a similar vulnerability to EAA. The fact that TH-positive neurons are only partially protected against glutamate toxicity by the non-competitive NMDA antagonist TCP indicates that they are more susceptible to non-NMDA mediated neurotoxicity than the general neuronal population.
authors.affiliation: INSERM U336, Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mateu
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Privat
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Thibault
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vignon
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004298:Dopamine / Q000502:physiology*; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000633:toxicity*; D016015:Logistic Models; D016202:N-Methylaspartate / Q000633:toxicity*; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects*; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D010622:Phencyclidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000196:embryology
chemical_list: D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D016202:N-Methylaspartate; C012058:tenocyclidine; D010622:Phencyclidine; D004298:Dopamine