There is significant interest in the field of neuroscience to gain a better understanding of how neurons die in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. We have used the neuronal cell line NG115-401L with unique calcium signaling characteristics to test the hypothesis that improving calcium loading into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to increase ER calcium levels acts as a possible neuroprotective response. We approached this problem using both pharmacological and genetic approaches targeting the central mediator of calcium uptake in the ER localized sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca 2+ ATPase (SERCA) enzyme. The pharmacological studies involved use of the ginger root compound 6-gingerol, which to date is the best documented agent for activating SERCA enzymes in heart and skeletal muscle. However, in our experiments, gingerol did not appear to activate NG115-401L SERCA pumps; indeed, the compound produced a response more like that of a SERCA inhibitor inducing a rapid ER calcium depletion. In addition, gingerol stimulated robust calcium influx responses, an unexpected result given the NG115-401L neural cell line is uniquely deficient in calcium influx pathways. Our genetic approach involved expressing the stromal interaction molecule 1 (STIM1) protein in the NG115-401L cell, which is also an ER localized protein that serves as a pivotal calcium influx channel regulator. NG115-40lL neurons present a native deficiency of STIM1 expression in a background phenotype with well characterized perturbations in ER calcium regulation and control of calcium influx pathways. Thus, STIM1 may be predicted to increase ER calcium levels, conferring protection against neuron cell death due to ER calcium store defects. STIM1 expression reconstituted the corrupted calcium influx pathway in NG115-401L neurons, which conferred neuroprotective responses to ER calcium perturbation, mitochondrial oxidative stress and subsequent cell death. Our results argue for unique and undiscovered regulatory effects of gingerol on the ER calcium circulation system, and suggest that the expression of STIM1 in these neurons protects against ER stress and oxidative stress via reconstruction of cellular calcium homeostasis.