Cabergoline prevents necrotic neuronal death in an in vitro model of oxidative stress

To study if cabergoline, a long-lasting specific dopamine D2 receptor agonist, has neuroprotective effects against oxidative stress, we exposed (3 h) SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells to tert-butylhydroperoxide (t-BOOH; 500 microM). t-BOOH caused a 42+/-4% neuronal death, which was prevented by cabergoline (2 h before) in a concentration-dependent manner (EC(50): 1.24 microM). This effect was not antagonised by haloperidol (concentration up to 10 microM), and was associated with an increased availability of intracellular GSH contents (+30+/-11%) and a decrease in the membrane lipid peroxidation (-23+/-9%). Our data suggest that cabergoline has neuroprotective effects useful for Parkinson's disease therapy.