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Updated: May 25, 2026

Local Application of Drugs to Study Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Function in Mouse Brain Slices
Published on: October 29, 2012
Neuroprotective properties of nicotine
1University of Hohenheim, Institute of Physiology, Stuttgart, Germany. michaela.sieber@uni-hohenheim.de
Abstract:
Utilizing the intrinsic optical signal (IOS) of retinal Spreading Depression (rSD) waves and the concomitant transparency changes of the tissue, we show that nicotine, in an in vivo near tissue preparation, has neuroprotective effects against the excitotoxic cell death, mediated through the activation of glutamate-receptors. For this study the retinal tissue was treated with NMDA, an agonist for the NMDA-glutamate-receptor, being excitotoxic at higher concentrations, to induce tissue damage. The protective effects of nicotine against glutamate induced neurotoxicity are demonstrated, comparing the IOS with NMDA and NMDA + nicotine. We additionally present data about the decrease of the propagation velocity of rSD waves after nicotine application and show analogical effects obtained with epibatidine, a specific nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) agonist.
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