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NMDA Prevents Alcohol‐Induced Neuronal Cell Death of Cerebellar Granule Cells in Culture
Author(s) -
Pantazis Nicholas J.,
Dohrman Douglas P.,
Luo Jia,
Thomas Jennifer D.,
Goodlett Charles R.,
West James R.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-0277.1995.tb00957.x
Subject(s) - nmda receptor , neuroprotection , granule cell , programmed cell death , cerebellum , granule (geology) , glutamate receptor , neuroscience , biology , central nervous system , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , pharmacology , receptor , biochemistry , apoptosis , dentate gyrus , paleontology
Neuronal cell loss is one of the most debilitating effects of alcohol exposure during development of the nervous system. In this study, primary cultures of neuronal cells (cerebellar granule cells) were wed to examine mechanisms of alcohol‐induced neuronal cell death. Previously, we established that (Pantazis et al., Alcohol Clin Exp Re8 17:1014–1021,1993): (1) alcohol exposure caused neuronal cell death in cultures of cerebellar granule cells and this cell loss was both time‐dependent and dose‐dependent; and (2) the vulnerability of cerebellar granule cells to alcohol‐induced loss changed with the length of time the cells were in culture before Initiating alcohol exposure—that is, younger cultures (1 day in vitro) were much more susceptible to alcohol‐induced neuronal cell death than older cultures (4 or 7 days in vitro). The primary goal of the present study was to examine the potential role of the NMDA receptor in alcohol‐induced death of cerebellar granule cells in culture. Experiments were performed to test the hypothesis that the alcohol‐induced death of cerebellar granule cells can be prevented or reduced by NMDA treatment Our results Indicate that stimulation of the NMDA receptor has a neuroprotective effect and can significantly reduce the alcohol‐induced neuronal cell death of newly established cerebellar granule cell cultures. This neuroprotective effect of NMDA is blocked by 2‐amlno‐5‐phosphonovalerate, a come inhibitor of the NMDA receptor, Confirming that this neuroprotective effect is mediated via the NMDA receptor. This is the first report that alcohol's neurotoxic effect can be ameliorated by activation of the NMDA receptor.