Excitatory amino acid-induced alterations of cytoplasmic free Ca2+ in individual cerebellar granule neurons: role in neurotoxicity.

The effects of glutamate on intracellular free Ca2+, [Ca2+]i, and neurotoxicity were compared in cerebellar granule neurons in vitro. [Ca2+]i was measured with fura-2 and digital fluorescence imaging microscopy; neurotoxicity was monitored using a vital dye and colorimetric analysis. Glutamate produced dose-dependent increases in [Ca2+]i, which tended to be transient for glutamate concentrations in a range of 0.01-0.5 microM and sustained for higher levels of glutamate. The ED50 for the [Ca2+]i response to glutamate was 6 microM. The LD50 for glutamate-induced neurotoxicity was similar, i.e., 10 microM. The effect of glutamate on [Ca2+]i was greatly diminished when external Ca2+ was removed and blocked by Mg2+ or N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-type receptor antagonists. The latter conditions as well as preloading granule neurons with the intracellular Ca2+ chelator quin2 largely prevented glutamate cytotoxicity. The neurotoxic effect of glutamate required incubations with the stimulus for 10-20 min at 25 degrees C. Withdrawal of glutamate after this period was accompanied by a prolonged alteration in [Ca2+]i. Pretreatment of the cells with the ganglioside GM1 reduced this late increase in [Ca2+]i as well as the neurotoxic effects of glutamate. This indicates that glutamate-induced neurotoxicity results from a composite of diverse temporal alterations in Ca2+ homeostasis and that blunting any of these components reduces excitotoxicity.