Glutamate is a major excitatory neurotransmitter that mediates neuronal damage in acute and chronic brain disorders. The effect and mechanism of phillygenin, a natural compound with neuroprotective potential, on glutamate release in isolated nerve terminals (synaptosomes) prepared from the rat cerebral cortex were examined. In this study, 4-aminopyridine (4-AP), a potassium channel blocker, was utilized to induce the release of glutamate, which was subsequently quantified via a fluorometric assay. Our findings revealed that phillygenin reduced 4-AP-induced glutamate release, and this inhibitory effect was reversed by removing extracellular Ca2+ or inhibiting vesicular transport with bafilomycin A1. However, exposure to the glutamate transporter inhibitor dl-threo-beta-benzyl-oxyaspartate (dl-TOBA) did not influence the inhibitory effect. Moreover, phillygenin did not change the synaptosomal membrane potential but lowered the 4-AP-triggered increase in intrasynaptosomal Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i). Antagonizing Cav2.2 (N-type) calcium channels blocked the inhibition of glutamate release by phillygenin, whereas pretreatment with the mitochondrial Na+/Ca2+ exchanger inhibitor, CGP37157 or the ryanodine receptor inhibitor, dantrolene, both of which block intracellular Ca2+ release, had no effect. The effect of phillygenin on glutamate release triggered by 4-AP was completely abolished when MAPK/ERK inhibitors were applied. Furthermore, phillygenin attenuated the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and its major presynaptic target, synapsin I, a protein associated with synaptic vesicles. These data collectively suggest that phillygenin mediates the inhibition of evoked glutamate release from synaptosomes primarily by reducing the influx of Ca2+ through Cav2.2 calcium channels, thereby subsequently suppressing the MAPK/ERK/synapsin I signaling cascade.
Keywords: cerebral cortex; glutamate exocytosis; phillygenin; synaptosomes; voltage-dependent Ca2+ channel.