Glutamate neurotoxicity in spinal cord cell culture

The neurotoxicity of glutamate was investigated quantitatively in mixed neuronal and glial spinal cord cell cultures from fetal mice at 12-13 days of gestation. Five-minute exposure to 10-1000 microM glutamate produced widespread acute neuronal swelling, followed by neuronal degeneration over the next 24 h (EC50 for death about 100-200 microM); glia were not injured. Glutamate was neurotoxic in cultures as young as four days in vitro, although greater death was produced in older cultures. By 14-20 days in vitro, 80-90% of the neuronal population was destroyed by a 5-min exposure to 500 microM glutamate. Acute neuronal swelling following glutamate exposure was prevented by replacement of extracellular sodium with equimolar choline, with minimal reduction in late cell death. Removal of extracellular calcium enhanced acute neuronal swelling but attenuated late neuronal death. Both acute neuronal swelling and late degeneration were effectively blocked by the noncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist dextrorphan and by the novel competitive antagonist CGP 37849. Ten micromolar 7-chlorokynurenate also inhibited glutamate neurotoxicity; protection was reversed by the addition of 1 mM glycine to the bathing medium. These observations suggest that glutamate is a potent and rapidly acting neurotoxin on cultured spinal cord neurons, and support involvement of excitotoxicity in acute spinal cord injury. Similar to telencephalic neurons, spinal neurons exposed briefly to glutamate degenerate in a manner dependent on extracellular Ca2+ and the activation of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors.