2-3-dioxo-6-nitro-7-sulfamoylbenzo(f)quinoxaline and alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-tert-butyl-4-isoxazolepropionate

Variations in intracellular calcium activity ([Ca2+]i) play crucial roles in information processing in Purkinje neurons such as synaptic plasticity. Although Na+-Ca2+ exchanger (NCX) has been shown to participate in the regulation of homeostasis and secretion in neuronal cells, the physiological role of NCX in Purkinje neurons, such as a role in cerebellar synaptic plasticity, is not well understood. NCX in acutely dissociated rat Purkinje neurons was identified by double staining with anti-calbindin D-28k antibody and anti-NCX antibody. The physiological activity of NCX was examined by measuring transient intracellular Ca2+ changes resulting from the Ca2+ influx via reverse mode of NCX (with 0 mM Na+/2.5 mM Ca2+ solutions) and the efflux via the forward mode of NCX (with 140 mM Na+/0 mM Ca2+ solutions). This transient increase in Ca2+ concentration was not elicited in the cells pretreated with NCX antisense oligodeoxynucleotides. And the Ca2+ influx resulting from the reverse mode of NCX was significantly reduced by 2-[2-[4-(4-nitrobenyloxy) phenyl] ethyl] isothiourea methanesulfonate, while the Ca2+ efflux via forward mode was inhibited by bepridil. The physiological role of NCX in synaptic function was studied by measuring Ca2+ transients induced by alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolone-propionate (AMPA) receptor activation. This AMPA-evoked response was decreased with the inhibition of NCX forward mode and also, to less degree, with the inhibition of reverse mode. In antisense oligodeoxynucleotides pretreated cells, the AMPA-evoked response was also reduced, as was the case in NCX-inhibitor treated cells. The inhibition of NCX activity had depressant effects on Ca2+ transients induced by AMPA receptor activation. These results suggest that NCX plays a physiological role in modulating the activity of cerebellar Purkinje neurons, such as synaptic plasticity, via interaction with AMPA receptors in Purkinje neurons.

Topics: Agatoxins; Animals; Animals, Newborn; Bepridil; Calbindins; Calcium; Calcium Channel Blockers; Cells, Cultured; Cerebellum; Diagnostic Imaging; Drug Interactions; Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists; Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; Fluorescent Antibody Technique; Glutamic Acid; Isoxazoles; Microscopy, Confocal; Oligonucleotides, Antisense; Polyamines; Propionates; Purkinje Cells; Quinoxalines; Rats; S100 Calcium Binding Protein G; Sodium; Sodium Channel Blockers; Sodium-Calcium Exchanger; Thiourea

The excitotoxic profiles of (RS)-2-amino-3-(3-hydroxy-5-tert-butylisoxazol-4-yl)propionic acid (ATPA), (RS)-2-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA), kainic acid (KA) and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) were evaluated using cellular uptake of propidium iodide (PI) as a measure for induced, concentration-dependent neuronal damage in hippocampal slice cultures. ATPA is in low concentrations a new selective agonist of the glutamate receptor subunit GluR5 confined to KA receptors and also in high concentrations an AMPA receptor agonist. The following rank order of estimated EC(50) values was found after 2 days of exposure: AMPA (3.7 mM)>NMDA (11 mM)=KA (13 mM)>ATPA (33 mM). Exposed to 30 microM ATPA, 3 microM AMPA and 10 microM NMDA, CA1 was the most susceptible subfield followed by fascia dentata and CA3. Using 8 microM KA, CA3 was the most susceptible subfield, followed by fascia dentata and CA1. In 100 microM concentrations, all four agonists induced the same, maximal PI uptake in all hippocampal subfields, corresponding to total neuronal degeneration. Using glutamate receptor antagonists, like GYKI 52466, NBQX and MK-801, inhibition data revealed that AMPA excitotoxicity was mediated primarily via AMPA receptors. Similar results were found for a high concentration of ATPA (30 microM). In low GluR5 selective concentrations (0.3-3 microM), ATPA did not induce an increase in PI uptake or a reduction in glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) activity of hippocampal interneurons. For KA, the excitotoxicity appeared to be mediated via both KA and AMPA receptors. NMDA receptors were not involved in AMPA-, ATPA- and KA-induced excitotoxicity, nor did NMDA-induced excitotoxicity require activation of AMPA and KA receptors. We conclude that hippocampal slice cultures constitute a feasible test system for evaluation of excitotoxic effects and mechanisms of new (ATPA) and classic (AMPA, KA and NMDA) glutamate receptor agonists. Comparison of concentration-response curves with calculation of EC(50) values for glutamate receptor agonists are possible, as well as comparison of inhibition data for glutamate receptor antagonists. The observation that the slice cultures respond with more in vivo-like patterns of excitotoxicity than primary neuronal cultures, suggests that slice cultures are the best model of choice for a number of glutamate agonist and antagonist studies.

Topics: alpha-Amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic Acid; Animals; Anti-Anxiety Agents; Benzodiazepines; Dizocilpine Maleate; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Hippocampus; In Vitro Techniques; Isoxazoles; Kainic Acid; Microtubule-Associated Proteins; N-Methylaspartate; Neuroprotective Agents; Neurotoxins; Nissl Bodies; Nuclear Proteins; Propidium; Propionates; Quinoxalines; Rats; Rats, Wistar

(RS)-2-Amino-3-(5-tert-butyl-3-hydroxy-4-isoxazolyl)propionic acid (ATPA), an analogue of (RS)-2-amino-3-(3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolyl)propionic acid (AMPA). has previously been shown to be a relatively weak AMPA receptor agonist and a very potent agonist at the GluR5 subtype of kainic acid-preferring (S)-glutamic acid ((S)-Glu) receptors. We report here the separation of (+)- and (-)-ATPA, obtained at high enantiomeric purity (enantiomeric excess values of 99.8% and > 99.8%, respectively) using chiral chromatography, and the unequivocal assignment of the stereochemistry of (S)-(+)-ATPA and (R)-(-)-ATPA. (S)- and (R)-ATPA were characterized in receptor binding studies using rat brain membranes, and electrophysiologically using the rat cortical wedge preparation and cloned AMPA-preferring (GluR1, GluR3, and GluR4) and kainic acid-preferring (GluR5, GluR6, and GluR6 + KA2) receptors expressed in Xenopus oocytes. In the cortical wedge, (S)-ATPA showed AMPA receptor agonist effects (EC50 = 23 microM) approximately twice as potent as those of ATPA. (R)-ATPA antagonized depolarizations induced by AMPA (Ki = 253 microM) and by (S)-ATPA (Ki = 376 microM), and (R)-ATPA antagonized the biphasic depolarizing effects induced by kainic acid (Ki = 301 microM and 1115 microM). At cloned AMPA receptors, (S)-ATPA showed agonist effects at GluR3 and GluR4 with EC50 values of approximately 8 microM and at GluR1 (EC50 = 22 microM), producing maximal steady state currents only 5.4-33% of those evoked by kainic acid. (R)-ATPA antagonized currents evoked by kainic acid at cloned AMPA receptor subtypes with Ki values of 33-75 microM. (S)-ATPA produced potent agonist effects at GluR5 (EC50 = 0.48 microM). Due to desensitization of GluR5 receptors, which could not be fully prevented by treatment with concanavalin A, (S)-ATPA-induced agonist effects were normalized to those of kainic acid. Under these circumstances, maximal currents produced by (S)-ATPA and kainic acid were not significantly different. (R)-ATPA did not attenuate currents produced by kainic acid at GluR5, and neither (S)- nor (R)-ATPA showed significant effects at GluR6. (S)-ATPA as well as AMPA showed weak agonist effects at heteromeric GluR6 + KA2 receptors, whereas (R)-ATPA was inactive. Thus, (S)- and (R)-ATPA may be useful tools for mechanistic studies of ionotropic non-NMDA (S)-Glu receptors, and lead structures for the design of new subtype-selective ligands for such receptors.

Topics: Animals; Binding, Competitive; Cerebral Cortex; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Electrophysiology; Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists; Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; Female; Isoxazoles; Molecular Conformation; Oocytes; Propionates; Quinoxalines; Radioligand Assay; Rats; Receptors, AMPA; Recombinant Fusion Proteins; Stereoisomerism; Tritium; Xenopus

We have synthesized the (R)- and (S)-isomers of 2-amino-3-(3-hydroxy-5-tert-butylisoxazol-4-yl) propanoate (ATPA) by stereochemically certain routes. Our studies in the rat cortical wedge preparation indicate that (R)-ATPA has no observable excitatory effect, while (S)-ATPA has an apparent K(D) of 16 microM. This excitatory response is unaffected by the specific N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonist, D-2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid (DAP5) but is partially blocked by 6-nitro-sulfamoyl[f]quinoxalinedione (NBQX) at concentrations that attenuate the effects of alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole-4-propionate (AMPA), the effects are however reduced by the nonspecific antagonist kynurenate (KYN), indicating an interaction with a class of kainate receptor.

Topics: 2-Amino-5-phosphonovalerate; alpha-Amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic Acid; Animals; Cerebral Cortex; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists; Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; In Vitro Techniques; Isoxazoles; Kynurenic Acid; Propionates; Quinoxalines; Rats; Receptors, Glutamate; Stereoisomerism