Cabergoline prevents necrotic neuronal death in an in vitro model of oxidative stress

To study if cabergoline, a long-lasting specific dopamine D2 receptor agonist, has neuroprotective effects against oxidative stress, we exposed (3 h) SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells to tert-butylhydroperoxide (t-BOOH; 500 μM). t-BOOH caused a 42±4% neuronal death, which was prevented by cabergoline (2 h before) in a concentration-dependent manner (EC₅₀: 1.24 μM). This effect was not antagonised by haloperidol (concentration up to 10 μM), and was associated with an increased availability of intracellular GSH contents (+30±11%) and a decrease in the membrane lipid peroxidation (-23±9%). Our data suggest that cabergoline has neuroprotective effects useful for Parkinson's disease therapy.