title: Expressions of nitrotyrosine and TUNEL immunoreactivities in cultured rat spinal cord neurons after exposure to glutamate, nitric oxide, or peroxynitrite.
abstract: Although excitotoxic and oxidative stress play important roles in spinal neuron death, the exact mechanism is not fully understood. We examined cell damage of primary culture of 11-day-old rat spinal cord by addition of glutamate, nitric oxide (NO) or peroxynitrite (PN) with detection of nitrotyrosine (NT) or terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin in situ nick end labeling (TUNEL). With addition of glutamate, NOC18 (a slow NO releaser) or PN, immunoreactivity for NT became stronger in the cytoplasm of large motor neurons in the ventral horn at 6 to 48 hr and positive in the axons of the ventral horn at 24 to 48 hr. TUNEL positive nuclei were found in spinal large motor neurons from 24 hr, and the positive cell number greatly increased at 48 hr in contrast to the vehicle. Pretreatment of cultures with alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA)/kainate receptor antagonist, NO-suppressing agent, and antioxidant protected the immunoreactivity for NT or TUNEL. The present results suggest that both excitotoxic and oxidative stress play an important role in the upregulation of NT nitration and the apoptotic pathway in cultured rat spinal neurons.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry, Okayama University Medical School, Okayama, Japan. mambe@cc.okayama-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Manabe
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Warita
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shoji
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Abe
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000494:pharmacology; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002493:Central Nervous System Diseases / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D005609:Free Radicals / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D007395:Interneurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009410:Nerve Degeneration / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D009498:Neurotoxins / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D009566:Nitrates / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D020030:Nitric Oxide Donors / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D014443:Tyrosine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D005609:Free Radicals; D009498:Neurotoxins; D009566:Nitrates; D020030:Nitric Oxide Donors; C039642:peroxynitric acid; C002744:3-nitrotyrosine; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D014443:Tyrosine