Priming of cultured neurons with sabeluzole results in long-lasting inhibition of neurotoxin-induced tau expression and cell death

Daniela Uberti, Claudia Rizzini, Paola Galli, Marina Pizzi, Mariagrazia Grilli, Anne Lesage, Pierfranco Spano, Maurizio Memo

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Sabeluzole was described to have antiischemic, antiepileptic, and cognitive-enhancing properties, and is currently under development for Alzheimer's disease. Recently, it was reported that repeated treatments with sabeluzole protect cultured rat hippocampal neurons against NMDA- and glutamate-induced neurotoxicity. We evaluated the possibility that sabeluzole elicits neuroprotection by acting, either directly or indirectly, on tau proteins. We found that repeated treatments during development of primary cultures of cerebellar granule cells with nanomolar concentrations of sabeluzole resulted in mature cells that were resistant to the excitotoxicity induced by glutamate. Also, sabeluzole treatment specifically prevented the glutamate-induced increase of tau expression without modifying the basal pattern of expression of tau proteins, as shown by measurement of mRNA and protein levels. In human neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y, differentiated by treatment with retinoic acid, doxorubicin increased tau immunoreactivity, and later induced cell death. Both effects were prevented by sabeluzole. Our data indicate that increased tau expression is a common response to different types of cells to neurotoxic agents, and that sabeluzole-induced neuroprotection is functionally associated with the prevention of the injury-mediated increase of tau expression.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)95-103
Number of pages9
JournalSynapse
Volume26
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 1997
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • PCR
  • Tau proteins
  • cerebellar granule cells
  • doxorubicin
  • glutamate
  • human neuroblastoma SH- SY5Y

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