Objective: Considering that cannabinoids protect neurons against neurodegeneration, in this study, the neuroprotective effect of WIN55,212-2 in paraoxon induced neurotoxicity in PC12 cells and the role of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor were evaluated. Materials and Methods: In this study PC12 cells were maintained in Dulbecco's modified eagle’s medium (DMEM+F12) culture medium supplem...

Both N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) and quisqualate/AMPA-insensitive metabotropic glutamate (mGlu) receptors mediate plasticity induction in neocortex, but their interlaminar distribution in cortical microcircuits is largely unknown. We used (+)(3)H-MK801 and (3)H-glutamate binding plus saturating concentrations of NMDA, AMPA, and quisqualate to autoradiographically map NMDA and mGlu receptor site...

Berberine is an isoquinoline alkaloid isolated from goldenthread, Coptidis Rhizoma and shown to have many biological and pharmacological effects. We previously reported that berberine promotes cell survival and differentiation of neural stem cells. To examine whether berberine has survival promoting effect on damaged neuronal cells, we generated a cellular model under oxidative stress and an ne...

Traumatic brain injury is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity among young people. For the last couple of decades, it was believed that excess stimulation of brain receptors for the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate was a major cause of delayed neuronal death after head injury, and several major clinical trials in severely head injured patients used blockers of the glutamate N-methyl-...

Specific binding of [³H]MK801 to N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors in the frontal cortex and hippocampus (CA1 and gyrus dentatus) was measured by receptor autoradiography in 16 Caucasian chronic alcohol consumers free of clinical manifestations of alcoholism, and compared with 16 Caucasian control subjects. Binding densities were not significantly different between heavy and moderate drinke...

The protective effect of an L-type calcium channel blocker, nimodipine, on cell injury induced by oxygenglucose deprivation (OGD) in PC12 cells was investigated. PC12 cells were exposed to oxygen-glucose deprivation (30 minutes and 60 minutes respectively) in the presence or absence of nimodipine (10μM/L) in three different time schedules (pre-24h, pre-3h and concurrently). Cellular viability w...

Although the epileptogenic properties of estrogens have been widely demonstrated in several models and species, the mechanism(s) by which estrogens can acutely change seizure parameters including after discharge and seizure duration remain remains to be determined. In the present study, we examined the role of NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate), non-NMDA and estrogenic receptors in estradiol benzoate ...