title: Nerve growth factor protects R2 cells against neurotoxicity induced by methamphetamine.
abstract: It is well known that methamphetamine is a neurotoxic drug of abuse to cause cell death both in vitro and in vivo. In this study, the protective effect of nerve growth factor on methamphetamine-induced neurotoxicity was examined in R2 cells. Treatment of R2 cells with methamphetamine for 48 h induced apoptotic-like death as determined by cell viability assay, DNA fragmentation on agarose gel and flow cytometric analysis. Co-treatment of R2 cells with nerve growth factor (10-1000 U/ml) in the presence of methamphetamine increased cell viability, decreased the intensity of methamphetamine-induced DNA fragmentation and reduced the number of apoptotic cells with flow cytometry. These results indicate that nerve growth factor may be useful for the treatment of methamphetamine users.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropharmacology, National Institute on Drug Dependence, Peking University, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100083, PR China.
authors.forename: Jun-Lan
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Jian-Hui
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Ji-Wang
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Chang-Ling
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D002460:Cell Line; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000166:cytology; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D008694:Methamphetamine / Q000633:toxicity*; D051379:Mice; D020932:Nerve Growth Factor / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats
chemical_list: D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; D008694:Methamphetamine; D020932:Nerve Growth Factor