Aim: To study the effect of group I metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR) ligands on 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced death and glutamate release of PC12 cells.
Methods: PC12 cells were exposed to 100 micromol/L of group I mGluR agonist (RS)-3,5-dihydroxy-phenylglycine (DHPG) or antagonist DL-2-amino-3-phosphonopropionic acid (DL-AP3) 1 h before addition of 6-OHDA 100 micromol/L. After incubation for 24 h, morphological alterations were observed with microscope, DNA fragmentation was detected by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) method, cytotoxicity was measured by MTT assay, and glutamate release was assayed by high performance liquid chromatography.
Results: 6-OHDA decreased cell viability (P<0.01) and induced concentration- and time-dependent glutamate release from PC12 cells. Group I mGluR ligands did not affect 6-OHDA-induced death of PC12 cells and had no influence on glutamate levels.
Conclusion: Group I mGluR ligands cannot protect PC12 cells from 6-OHDA-induced death.