Skip to main content
Download PDF

Volume 17 Supplement 1

Taurine – a wonder molecule. Proceedings of the 17th International Taurine Conference

Protection of taurine and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor against excitotoxicity induced by glutamate in primary cortical neurons

Journal of Biomedical Science volume 17, Article number: S18 (2010) Cite this article

Abstracts

Background

Both taurine, an inhibitory neurotransmitter and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), a growth factor, possess neuroprotective and neurotrophic properties in vitro. However, the mechanisms of their underlying neuroprotective effects are not fully understood.

Methods

In the present study, we investigated the potential protective benefits of taurine, G-CSF and the combination of taurine and G-CSF against excitotoxicity induced by glutamate in primary cortical neuronal cultures.

Results

25 mM taurine, 25 ng/ml G-CSF and the combination of 25 mM taurine and 25 ng/ml G-CSF showed a protective effect reaching 75%, 75% and 88%, respectively. Furthermore, taurine exerted its protective effect through down-regulation of expression of GRP 78, CHOP, Bim and caspase 12.

Conclusion

The results showed that all of these treatments, taurine, G-CSF and the combination of taurine and G-CSF, protected primary cortical neurons against excitotoxicity induced by glutamate. ER stress is suppressed by taurine after glutamate toxicity.

Background

Taurine (2-aminoethanesulfonic acid), an inhibitory neurotransmitter, is present at high concentrations in many invertebrate and vertebrate systems [1–3]. Taurine has received much attention in the field of neuroprotection since the original experiments of Curtis and Watkins on the synaptic effects of inhibitory and excitatory amino acids [4, 5]. Taurine is at a high level in the immature brain, serving as a trophic factor [6]. It has been thought to induce hyperpolarization, to inhibit firing of central neurons and to act as a modulator of synaptic activity in the brain [7–9]. The maintenance of the integrity of membranes, transmembrane Cl- flux and intracellular calcium homeostasis are also important functions of taurine in the brain [10–13]. Taurine also acts as an osmoregulator and plays an antioxidant role [14–16]. In addition, it has been related to neuroprotection against multiple neurological diseases including Alzheimer’sdisease, Huntington’s disease and brain ischemia [17–19]. Moreover, taurine was found in neuronal systems to exert a protective function against toxicity induced by glutamate [20, 21].

G-CSF is one of the few growth factors currently approved for clinical use for routine treatment of neutropenia [22]. It primarily stimulates proliferation, differentiation and maturation of cells committed to the neutrophilic granulocyte lineage through binding to the specific G-CSF receptor [23]. G-CSF also has been shown to have trophic effects on neuronal cells in vitro [24]. Moreover, G-CSF is an effective neuroprotectant in the treatment of a number of neurological diseases including stroke, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease [25–28]. In addition, apart from its protective role in neurons, G-CSF also dampens systemic inflammatory reactions, which may be of additional benefit in neurodegenerative conditions [29].

Although it is established that taurine and G-CSF have many beneficial effects under a variety of conditions of cell damage, the protective mechanisms are still unclear. We have recently demonstrated that taurine protects PC12 cells against ER stress induced by oxidative stress [30]. Here, we studied the protective effect of taurine, G-CSF and the combination of taurine and G-CSF against excitotoxicity induced by glutamate in rat primary neuronal cultures. We demonstrated that ER stress is also involved in the excitotoxicity induced by glutamate. Moreover, taurine protects primary neurons by suppressing ER stress induced by glutamate.

Methods

Materials

Basal medium-Eagle, fetal bovine serum, poly-D-lysine, taurine, Penicillin-Streptomycin and other chemicals were purchased from Sigma (St. Louis, MO, USA). Mouse anti-actin, rabbit anti-GRP78, rabbit anti-CHOP/GADD153, rabbit anti-caspase-12 antibodies and secondary mouse and rabbit antibodies were purchased from Santa Cruz Biotechnology (Santa Cruz, CA, USA). Rabbit anti-Bim antibody was purchased from Assay Designs (Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA). Adenosine 5’-triphosphate (ATP) Bioluminescent assay kit was purchased from Promega (Madison, WI, USA). RIPA buffer was purchased from Thermo Scientific (Rockford, IL, USA). Pregnant Sprague Dawley rats were purchased from Harlan (Indianapolis, IN) and housed in the animal care facility at Florida Atlantic University. The procedures for the care and use of rats, in accordance with the National Institutes of Health Guidelines for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Florida Atlantic University.

Primary cortical neuronal cell culture

Primary cortical neuronal cell cultures were prepared using a previously described protocol [13]. Briefly, rat embryos at 17-18 days were removed and brains were isolated from the fetuses and kept in basal media Eagle (BME) supplemented with 2 mM glutamine, 26.8 mM glucose, and 20% heat-inactivated fetal bovine serum. This medium is referred to as growth medium-eagle (GME). The cortices then were dissociated by passing the tissue through a 14-G cannula. Cells were centrifuged at 200 g/min for 5 min at 25oC. The resulting pellet was resuspended in GME and plated on appropriate tissue culture plates precoated with 5 ug/ml of poly-D-lysine. Cells were maintained for 1 hour in a humidified incubator (37oC, 99% humidity and 5% CO2) before the incubation medium was replaced with serum-free neurobasalmedium (GIBCO) supplemented with B27 and 500 uM glutamine. The cultures were maintained in an incubator for 14 -18 days.

Measurement of cell viability

Cells were measured by ATP assay. Neurons at 14 days in vitro were preincubated with 25 mM taurine for 1 hour. Then the neurons were treated with 100 uM glutamate for 4 hours. ATP solution was added to each well and cells were incubated for 10 minutes, after which levels of ATP were quantified in a luciferase reaction. The luminescent intensity was measured using a luminometer (SpectraMax, Molecular Devices) after transferring the lysate to a standard opaque walled multi-well plate.

Western blot analysis

Primary cortical neuron cultures were lysed in RIPA buffer (25 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.6, 150 mM NaCl, 1% NP-40, 1% sodium deoxycholate, 0.1% SDS) containing 1% (v/v) mammalian protease inhibitor cocktail from Sigma and separated on a SDS-PAGE. After proteins were transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane, the membrane was then blocked in blocking buffer (20 mM Tris-HCl, 150 mM NaCl, 0.1% Tween-20, 5% milk) for 1.5 hours at room temperature. After blocking, the corresponding primary antibody was incubated for one hour, followed by one hour incubation with the corresponding HRP-conjugated secondary antibody at room temperature. Extensive washes with blocking buffer were performed between each step. The protein immuno-complex was visualized using ECL detection reagents.

Statistical analysis

All data shown were expressed as the mean ± SEM. The Student’s t-test or one-way ANOVA was used to compare means between groups. Differences of P<0.05 were considered statistically significant.

Results

Dose-dependent glutamate toxicity in primary neuron cultures

Excessive levels of the neurotransmitter glutamate trigger excitotoxic processes in neurons that result in cell death [31].To identify the excitotoxic dose range of glutamate, rat cortical neurons were treated for 4 hours with 50, 100, 200 or 300 uM glutamate respectively. The results are shown in Fig. 1. We found that glutamate treatment caused a dose-dependent increase in neuronal apoptotic processes. There was approximately 50% survival of cortical neurons with 100 uM glutamate treatment for 4 hours (Fig. 1, lane 3). 100 uM glutamate was chosen as an optimal concentration to induce the excitotoxicity.

Figure 1
figure 1

Effect of glutamate on cell viablility - A dose-dependent study. Primary cortical neurons were exposed to 50 uM, 100 uM and 300 uM glutamate for 4 hours and cell viability was measured by ATP assay.

Full size image

Protective effects of taurine against glutamate toxicity in primary neuron cultures

Previously, we found that 25 mM taurine resulted in the optimal neuroprotection against glutamate induced excitotoxicity [32]. For this reason, we selected the 25 mM taurine concentration for testing cell viability using the ATP assay. For testing the protective effect of 25 mM taurine against glutamate in cortical neurons, cells were seeded in 96-well plates and treated with or without 25 mM taurine for 1 hour followed by 100 uM glutamate exposure for 4 hours. The cell survival results are shown in Fig. 2. The treatment of 25 mM taurine increased the cell survival by 75% compared to the condition with 100 uM glutamate treatment.

Figure 2
figure 2

Neuroprotective effect of taurine against glutamate-induced excitotoxicity measured by ATP assay. Primary cortical neurons were treated with 25 mM taurine for 1 hour before exposure to 100uM glutamate for 4 hours and cell viability was measured by ATP assay.

Full size image

Protection of G-CSF against glutamate toxicity in primary neuronal cultures

G-CSF has been widely investigated in terms of protection of neurons in stroke, as shown in numerous papers [25, 26, 33–36]. Glutamate has been shown to play a key role in the pathogenesis of stroke [37]. However, there has been little research on the protective function of G-CSF in glutamate induced excitotoxicity in vitro. G-CSF was previously shown to exhibit a protective effect in cerebellar granule cells exposed to glutamate toxicity [25]. In the current study, we demonstrated the protective function of G-CSF at a range of concentrations from 10 to 40 ng/ml against excitotoxicity induced by glutamate in primary neuronal cultures (Fig. 3). G-CSF treatment resulted in an enhanced cell survival at several concentrations, with the highest protection of 75% occurring at 25 ng/ml.

Figure 3
figure 3

Neuroprotective effect of G-CSF against glutamate-induced excitotoxicity - A dose-dependent study. Primary cortical neurons were preincubated with 10, 25, 40 and 50ng/ml G-CSF for 1 hour, then exposed to 100uM glutamate for 4 hours. Cell viability was measured by ATP assay.

Full size image

The protective effect of the combination of taurine and G-CSF in primary neuronal cultures

To test whether the combination of taurine and G-CSF promotes protection against glutamate induced toxicity, we treated primary neurons with 25 mM taurine plus 25 ng/ml G-CSF for 1 hour, followed by glutamate treatment for 4 hours. The results are shown in Fig. 4. The combination of taurine and G-CSF increased the protective effect against glutamate toxicity to 88% cell survival compared to 75% cell survival from taurine or G-CSF treatment alone.

Figure 4
figure 4

Neuroprotective effect of the combination of taurine and G-CSF against glutamate-induced excitotoxicity. Primary cortical neurons were preincubated with 25 mM taurine and 25 ng/ml G-CSF for 1 hour, and then exposed to 100 uM glutamate for 4 hours. Cell survival was measured by ATP assay.

Full size image

Taurine protects neurons against glutamate excitotoxicity by suppressing the expression of GRP78, CHOP, Caspase-12 and Bim

To investigate if ER stress can be induced by glutamate and then suppressed by taurine, specific ER stress effector proteins were analyzed by western blot. Glucose regulated protein-78 (GRP78) is an ER-associated chaperone, which facilitates protein folding in ER [38]. The expression of GRP78 protein was up-regulated in primary neurons after treatment with 100 uM glutamate for 4 hours. However, taurine restored the level of GRP78 to control levels, as shown in Fig. 5. C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP), also known as growth arrest and DNA damage inducible protein 153 (GADD153), is an important ER stress marker [39]. Fig. 6 shows that the expression of CHOP was up-regulated by glutamate. Taurine treatment restored CHOP expression to the control level (Fig. 6). Both Caspase-12 and Bim play an essential role in the progression of programmed cell death during the proapoptotic phase of the ER stress response [40, 41]. Taurine reversed the induction of Caspase-12 and Bim caused by glutamate in primary neurons, as shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6.

Figure 5
figure 5

Effect of taurine on glutamate-induced elevated expression of GRP78 and Caspase-12 by Western blot analysis. Primary cortical neurons were preincubated with 25 mM taurine for 1 hour, and then exposed to 100 uM glutamate for 4 hours. Expression of GRP78 protein and caspase 12 was analyzed by Western blot assay. Beta-actin was included to show equal loading. C: Control; glu: Glutamate-treated group; tau+ glu: Same as glu group except pretreated with taurine.

Full size image
Figure 6
figure 6

Effect of taurine on glutamate-induced elevated expression of CHOP and Bim by Western blot analysis. Primary cortical neurons were treated the same as described in Figure 5 except that the expression of CHOP and Bim was analyzed by Western blot assay.

Full size image

Discussion

In the present study, we have demonstrated the potent protection by taurine and by G-CSF in an in vitro model of primary cortical neuronal cell death induced by glutamate. Taurine and G-CSF protected primary cortical neurons against glutamate-induced neurotoxicity as determined by measuring cell viability using the ATP assay. On the other hand, we found that the combination of taurine and G-CSF gave a synergistic enhancement of protection against glutamate in primary cortical neurons. We have further shown that the suppression of ER stress is an essential underlying mechanism for taurine-induced neuroprotection. Our investigation of the intracellular mechanisms downstream of ER stress demonstrated a reversal by taurine of glutamate-induced increases in GRP78, CHOP, Caspase-12 and Bim levels.

A previous paper reported that taurine and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) in combination gave an enhanced neuroprotection in granule neurons against glutamate induced excitotoxicity [42]. They showed that neuroprotection was obtained only through the combined action of taurine and bFGF in a cerebellar granule neuron rich culture, but not by these factors alone. Therefore, they believed that taurine can augment bFGF function under certain conditions. Here, we demonstrated that taurine or G-CSF administrated alone showed a neuroprotective effect. Furthermore, an enhanced protection against glutamate was also observed with a combination of taurine and G-CSF. The clinical application of taurine was investigated and found to be effective in studies as early as 1974 when it was applied to treatment for refractory epilepsy [43]. Both taurine and G-CSF have been shown to be potential drugs for ischemia or stroke in clinical applications [44, 45]. Since the combination of taurine and G-CSF have synergistic neuroprotective effects against glutamate excitotoxicity, as demonstrated in this paper, this strongly suggests that the combination of taurine and G-CSF may be more effective than the individual agents in treatment of neurological diseases, such as stroke.

Many neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, stroke and Parkinson’s disease have been linked to the overactivation of glutamatergic transmission and excitotoxicity as a common pathway of neuronal injury [46–48]. Previous studies have also shown that ER stress is induced in neurons by glutamate toxicity [49, 50]. Recently, kainic acid (KA), a non-NMDA glutamate receptor agonist, was found to cause the disintegration of the ER membrane in hippocampal neurons and to cause ER stress [51]. In this study, we demonstrated glutamate induced ER stress associated with the up-regulation of the proteins GRP78, CHOP, Bim and caspase-12.

Although taurine has been investigated and applied to treat many diseases, the protective mechanism is still not fully understood. We have already demonstrated that ER stress induced by H2O2 in PC12 cells was prevented by taurine treatment [30]. In the present study, our results show that taurine reduces the ER stress induced by glutamate in primary neuronal cultures.

Conclusion

In the present study, we demonstrated that both taurine and G-CSF protect primary cortical neurons against glutamate-induced cell death. Interestingly, we found that the combination of taurine and G-CSF results in an enhanced protective effect. Because both taurine and G-CSF are neuroprotective agents that are approved for clinical use, the combined administration of these two factors may constitute a viable therapy with potentially enhanced therapeutic efficacy. Moreover, taurine suppressed the ER stress induced by glutamate. Further investigation will be performed to examine the specific pathway responsible for ER stress induced by glutamate and to identify molecular targets in the ER stress pathway that are specifically inhibited by taurine, G-CSF and their combination.

References

  1. Huxtable RJ: The physiological actions of taurine. Physiol. Rev. 1992, 72: 101-163.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Sturman JA: Taurine in development. Physiol. Rev. 1993, 73: 119-147.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Huxtable RJ: Taurine in the central nervous system and the mammalian actions of taurine. Prog. Neurobiol. 1989, 32: 471-533. 10.1016/0301-0082(89)90019-1.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Curtis DR, Watkins JC: The excitation and depression of spinal neurones by structurally related amino acids. J. Neurochem. 1960, 6: 117-141. 10.1111/j.1471-4159.1960.tb13458.x.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Curtis DR, Watkins JC: Analogues of glutamic and gamma-aminobutyric acids having potent action on mammalian neurons. Nature (Lond). 1961, 191: 1010-10.1038/1911010a0.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Palackal T, Kujawa M, Moretz RC, Neuringer M, Sturman JA: Laminar analysis of the number of neurons, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes amd microglia in the visual cortex (area 17) of 3-month-old rhesus monkeys fed a human infant soy-protein formula with or without taurine supplementation from birth. Dev. Neurosci. 1991, 13: 20-33. 10.1159/000112137.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Kuriyama K: Taurine as a neuromodulator. Fed. Proc. 1980, 39: 2680-2684.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Oja SS, Saransaari P: Taurine as osmoregulator and neuromodulator in the brain. Metab Brain Dis. 1996, 11: 153-164. 10.1007/BF02069502.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Saransaari P, Oja SS: Release of GABA and taurine from brain slices. Prog. Neurobiol. 1992, 38: 455-482. 10.1016/0301-0082(92)90046-H.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Moran J, Salazar P, Pasantes-Morales H: Effect of tocopherol and taurine on membrane fluidity of retinal rod outer segments. Exp Eye Res. 1987, 45: 769-776. 10.1016/S0014-4835(87)80094-5.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Okamoto K, Kimura H, Sakai Y: Taurine-induced increase of the Cl-conductance of cerebellar Purkinje cell dendrites in vitro. Brain Res. 1983, 259: 319-323. 10.1016/0006-8993(83)91266-0.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Satoh H, Sperelakis N: Review of some actions of taurine on ion channels of cardiac muscle cells and others. Gen. Pharmacol. 1998, 30: 451-463. 10.1016/S0306-3623(97)00309-1.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Chen WQ, Jin H, Nguyen M, Carr J, Lee YJ, Hsu CC, Faiman MD, Schloss JV, Wu JY: Role of taurine in regulation of intracellular calcium level and neuroprotective function in cultured neurons. J Neurosci Res. 2001, 66: 612-619. 10.1002/jnr.10027.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Wade JV, Olson JP, Samson FE, Nelson SR, Pazdernik TL: A possible role for taurine in osmoregulation within the brain. J. Neurochem. 1988, 51: 740-745. 10.1111/j.1471-4159.1988.tb01807.x.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Militante J, Lombardini JB: Age-related retinal degeneration in animal models of aging: Possible involvement of taurine deficiency and oxidative stress. Neurochem Res. 2004, 29: 151-160. 10.1023/B:NERE.0000010444.97959.1b.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Balkan J, Kanbagli O, Hatipoglu A, Kucuk M, Cevikbas U, Toker G, Uysal M: Improving effect of dietary taurine supplementation on the oxidative stress and lipid levels in the plasma, liver and aorta of rabbits fed on a high-cholesterol diet. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2002, 66: 1755-1758. 10.1271/bbb.66.1755.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Takatani T, Takahashi K, Uozumi Y, Shikata E, Yamamoto Y, Ito T, Matsuda T, Schaffer SW, Fujio Y, Azuma J: Taurine inhibits apoptosis by preventing formation of the Apaf-1-caspase-9 apoptosome. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2004, 287: C949-C953. 10.1152/ajpcell.00042.2004.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Paula-Lima AC, Felice GF, Brito-Moreira J, Ferreira TS: Activation of GABAA receptors by taurine and muscimol blocks the neurotoxicity of beta-amyloid in rat hippocampal and cortical neurons. Neuropharmacology. 2005, 49: 1140-1148. 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2005.06.015.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Tadros GM, Khalifa EA, Abdel-Naim BA, Arafa Huntingtons: Neuroprotective effect of taurine in 3-nitropropionic acid-induced experimental animal model of Huntington's disease phenotype. Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2005, 82: 574-582. 10.1016/j.pbb.2005.10.018.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Ward R, Cirkovic-Vellichovia T, Ledeque F, Tirizitis G, Dubars G, Datla K, Dexter D, Heushling P, Crichton R: Neuroprotection by taurine and taurine analogues. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2006, 583: 299-306. full_text.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Wu JY, Wu H, Jin Y, Wei J, Sha D, Prentice H, Lee HH, Lin CH, Lee YH, Yang LL: Mechanism of Neuroprotective Function of Taurine. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2009, 643: 169-179. full_text.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Metcalf D: The colony stimulating factors discovery, development, and clinical applications. Cancer. 1990, 65: 2185-95. 10.1002/1097-0142(19900515)65:10<2185::AID-CNCR2820651005>3.0.CO;2-4.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Hartung T: Anti-inflammatory effects of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor. Curr Opin Hematol. 1998, 5: 221-225. 10.1097/00062752-199805000-00013.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Konishi Y, Chui DH, Hirose H, Kunishita T, Tabira T: Trophic effects of erythropoeitin and other hematopoietic factors on central cholinergic neurons in vitro and in vivo. Brain Res. 1993, 609: 29-35. 10.1016/0006-8993(93)90850-M.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Schabitz WR, Kollmar R, Schwaninger M, Juettler E, Bardutzky J, Scholzke MN, Sommer C, Schwab S: Neuroprotective effect of granulocyte colonystimulating factor after focal cerebral ischemia. Stroke. 2003, 34: 745-751. 10.1161/01.STR.0000057814.70180.17.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Solaroglu I, Tsubokawa T, Cahill J, Zhang JH: Anti-apoptotic effect of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor after focal cerebral ischemia in the rat. Neuroscience. 2006, 143: 965-974. 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2006.09.014.

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Meuer K, Pitzer C, Teismann P, Krüger C, Göricke B, Laage R, Lingor P, Peters K, Schlachetzki JC, Kobayashi K, Dietz GP, Weber D, Ferger B, Schäbitz WR, Bach A, Schulz JB, Bähr M, Schneider A, Weishaupt JH: Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor is neuroprotective in a model of Parkinson’s disease. J Neurochem. 2006, 97: 675-686. 10.1111/j.1471-4159.2006.03727.x.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Tsai KJ, Tsai YC, Shen CK: G-CSF rescues the memory impairment of animal models of Alzheimer’s disease. J Exp Med. 2007, 204: 1273-1280. 10.1084/jem.20062481.

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Hartung T: Anti-inflammatory effects of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor. Curr Opin Hematol. 1998, 5: 221-225. 10.1097/00062752-199805000-00013.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Pan C, Giraldo GS, Prentice H, Wu JY: Taurine protection of PC12 cells against endoplasmic reticulum stress induced by oxidative stress. J Biomed Sci. 2010, 17 (Suppl 1): S17-10.1186/1423-0127-17-S1-S17.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Meldrum B, Garthwaite J: Excitatory amino acid neurotoxicity and neurodegenerative disease. Trends Pharmacol Sci. 1990, 11: 379-87. 10.1016/0165-6147(90)90184-A.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Leon R, Wu H, Jin Y, Wei J, Buddhala C, Prentice H, Wu J-Y: Protective function of taurine in glutamate-induced apoptosis in cultured neurons. J Neurosci Res. 2009, 87: 1185-1194. 10.1002/jnr.21926.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Hasselblatt M, Jeibmann A, Riesmeier B, Maintz D, Schaitz W-R: Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) and G-CSF receptor expression in human ischemic stroke. Acta Neuropathol. 2007, 113: 45-51. 10.1007/s00401-006-0152-y.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Lee S-T, Chu K, Jung K-H, Ko S-Y, Kim E-H, Sinn D-I, Lee Y-S, Lo EH, Kim M, Roh J-K: Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor enhances angiogenesis after focal cerebral ischemia. Brain Res. 2005, 1058: 120-128. 10.1016/j.brainres.2005.07.076.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Yataa K, Matchettc AG, Tsubokawaa T, Tanga J, Kanamarud K, Zhang HJ: Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor inhibits apoptotic neuron loss after neonatal hypoxia–ischemia in rats. Brain Res. 2007, 1145: 227-238. 10.1016/j.brainres.2007.01.144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Chen WF, Jean YH, Sung CS, Wu GJ, Huang SY, Ho JT, Su TM, Wen ZH: Intrathecally injected ranulocyte colony-stimulating factor produced europrotective effects in spinal cord ischemia via the mitogen-activated protein kinase and Akt pathways. Neuroscience. 2008, 153: 31-43. 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2008.01.062.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Aliprandi A, Longoni M, Stanzani L, Tremolizzo L, Vaccaro M, Begni B, Galimberti G, Rosanna G, Ferrarese C: Increased plasma glutamate in stroke patients might be linked to altered platelet release and uptake. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2005, 25: 513-519. 10.1038/sj.jcbfm.9600039.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Kaufman RJ: Orchestrating the unfolded protein response in health and disease. J Clin Invest. 2002, 110: 1389-1398.

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Ferri KF, Kroemer G: Organelle-specific initiation of cell death pathways. Nat Cell Biol. 2001, 3: E255-E263. 10.1038/ncb1101-e255.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Puthalakath H, O’Reilly LA, Gunn P, Lee L, Kelly PN, Huntington ND, Hughes PD, Michalak EM, McKimm-Breschkin J, Motoyama N, Gotoh T, Akira S, Bouillet P, Strasser A: ER stress triggers apoptosis by activating BH3-only protein Bim. Cell. 2007, 129 (z): 1337-1349. 10.1016/j.cell.2007.04.027.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Nakagawa T, Zhu H, Morishima N, Li E, Xu J, Yankner BA, Yuan J: Caspase-12 mediates endoplasmic-reticulum-specific apoptosis and cytotoxicity by amyloid-beta. Nature. 2000, 403: 98-103. 10.1038/47513.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Idrissi EA, Trenkner E: Growth factors and taurine protect against excitotoxicity by stabilizing calcium homeostasis and energy metabolism. J Neurosci. 1999, 19: 9459-9468.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Bergamini L, Mutani R, Delsedime M, Durelli L: First clinical experience on the antiepileptic action of taurine. Eur Neurol. 1974, 11: 261-269. 10.1159/000114324.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  44. McCarty MF: The reported clinical utility of taurine in ischemic disorders may reflect a down-regulation of neutrophil activation and adhesion. Med Hypotheses. 1999, 53: 290-299. 10.1054/mehy.1998.0760.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. Schäbitz WR: Developing granulocyte-colony stimulating factor for the treatment of stroke: Current status of clinical trials. Stroke. 2006, 37: 1654-10.1161/01.STR.0000227299.62106.0e.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  46. Aliprandi1 A, Longoni M, Stanzani L, Tremolizzo L, Vaccaro M, Begni B, Galimberti G, Garofolo R, Ferrarese C: Increased plasma glutamate in stroke patients might be linked to altered platelet release and uptake. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2005, 25: 513-519. 10.1038/sj.jcbfm.9600039.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Maragos WF, Greenamyre JT, Penney JB, Young AB: Glutamate dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease: an hypothesis. Trends Neurosci. 1987, 10: 65-68. 10.1016/0166-2236(87)90025-7.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  48. Greenamyre JT: Glutamate-dopamine interactions in the basal ganglia relationship to Parkinson’s disease. J Neural Transm Gen Sect. 1993, 91: 255-269. 10.1007/BF01245235.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  49. Yu Z, Luo H, Fu W, Mattson MP: The endoplasmic reticulum stress-responsive protein GRP78 protects neurons against excitotoxicity and apoptosis: suppression of oxidative stress and stabilization of calcium homeostasis. Exp. Neurol. 1999, 155: 302-314. 10.1006/exnr.1998.7002.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  50. Kitao Y, Ozawa K, Miyazaki M, Tamatani M, Kobayashi T, Yanagi H, Okabe M, Ikawa M, Yamashima T, Stern DM, Hori O, Ogawa S: Expression of the endoplasmic reticulum molecular chaperone (ORP150) rescues hippocampal neurons from glutamate toxicity. J. Clin. Invest. 2001, 108 (z): 1439-1450.

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  51. Sokka AL, Putkonen N, Mudo G, Pryazhnikov E, Reijonen S, Khiroug L, Belluardo N, Lindholm D, Korhonen L: Endoplasmic reticulum stress inhibition protects against excitotoxic neuronal injury in the rat brain. J Neurosci. 2007, 27: 901-908. 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4289-06.2007.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the James and Esther King Biomedical Research Program, Florida Department of Health.

This article has been published as part as part of Journal of Biomedical Science Volume 17 Supplement 1, 2010: Proceedings of the 17th International Meeting of Taurine. The full contents of the supplement are available online at http://www.jbiomedsci.com/supplements/17/S1.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, 33431, USA

    Chunliu Pan

  2. College of Biomedical Science, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, 33431, USA

    Amit Gupta, Howard Prentice & Jang-Yen Wu

Authors
  1. Chunliu Pan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Amit Gupta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Howard Prentice
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jang-Yen Wu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Howard Prentice or Jang-Yen Wu.

Additional information

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pan, C., Gupta, A., Prentice, H. et al. Protection of taurine and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor against excitotoxicity induced by glutamate in primary cortical neurons. J Biomed Sci 17 (Suppl 1), S18 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1186/1423-0127-17-S1-S18

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1423-0127-17-S1-S18

Keywords

  • Glutamate
  • Taurine
  • Primary Neuron
  • Primary Cortical Neuron
  • Primary Neuronal Culture

Journal of Biomedical Science

ISSN: 1423-0127