A model of acute glutamate- and domoate-induced toxicity was developed and characterized in cultured rat cerebellar granule cells (CGCs) using experimental conditions which preserve the voltage-dependency of NMDA receptor function. Glutamate, which is normally non-toxic to CGCs in physiologic media (pH 7.4), was shown to induce a cytotoxic response after 2 hours when the exposure temperature was reduced from 37�� to 22��. Pharmacological characterization of this response demonstrated that cytotoxicity is mediated by the activation of NMDA receptors, while non-NMDA receptors produce a depolarizing stimulus that enhances release of the voltage-dependent Mg����� blockade of NMDA receptor ion channels. Reduced temperature was shown to facilitate NMDA receptor activation by compromising the ability of CGCs to maintain normal electrochemical gradients during glutamate-induced ion flux. When compared to glutamate, the non-NMDA receptor agonist, domoate, demonstrated an acute cytotoxic response in CGCs that was also mediated predominantly by NMDA receptors. NMDA receptor activation was produced secondary to a domoateinduced release of glutamate and aspartate from CGCs; therefore, domoate synergistically potentiates glutamate/aspartate-mediated neurotoxicity. Domoate-induced
excitatory amino acid (EAA) release was investigated and found to occur almost exclusively through reversal of the high affinity Na+-coupled glutamate transporter and by osmoregulatory mechanisms. CGCs also responded to domoate-induced depolarization by releasing adenosine which suppresses exocytotic EAA release through A1 receptor activation.
The functional and pharmacological characteristics of NMDA receptors were characterized in 12 DIC CGCs using the channel blocking compound [��H]MK-801 (dizocilpine). Kinetic analysis of [��H]MK-801 binding indicated the possible existence of at least two NMDA receptor populations on 12 DIC CGC membranes, and the equilibrium competition binding of MK-801 and other channel blocking compounds was consistent with the presence of high and low affinity binding sites. The neuroprotective potencies of NMDA receptor channel blockers correlated significantly with their affinities for the NMDA receptor derived from equilibrium competition analysis of [��H]MK-801 high-affinity binding. Thus, whereas 12 DIC CGCs express a pharmacologically heterogeneous population of NMDA receptors, it is the high-affinity component of [��H]MK-801 binding that mediates glutamate toxicity. / Graduation date: 1998
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/33853 |
| Date | 15 May 1997 |
| Creators | Berman, Frederick W. |
| Contributors | Murray, Thomas F. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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