COMPARISON OF RILUZOLE WITH N-ACETYLCYSTEINE AND VITAMIN E AGAINST H2O2- AND GLUTAMATE-INDUCED CYTOTOXICITY IN A MOTOR NEURON CELL LINE

Abstract

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is characterized by selective motor-neuron death, the causes of which may include oxidative stress and glutamate toxicity. Although riluzole is recognized as the only drug to prolong the life span of ALS patients, the exact way that it works is mainly unknown. We evaluated effects of riluzole and compared it with those of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) and vitamin E in the motor-neuron cell line NSC-34. When the cells were post-treated with each drug for 24 h from the 6-h timepoint after 30-min H2O2 treatment, cell survival was all increased without any significant difference in drug potency. In the differentiated NSC34 cells to express functional glutamate receptors, each of the three drugs co-treated with glutamate was effective on glutamate-resistant cell survival. These results suggest that the tested three drugs have similar protective effect in NSC-34 cells against the oxidant and glutamate toxicity, at least in a short-time period. KEY WORDS: N-Acetylcysteine, Glutamate, Motor neurons, oxidative stress, riluzole, vitamin E