Mitochondrial superoxide production and MnSOD activity after exposure to agonist and antagonists of ionotropic glutamate receptors in hippocampus.

Competitive glutamate receptor antagonists APV and CNQX were injected with kainate unilaterally into CA3 region of the rat hippocampus. They both expressed sufficient neuroprotection in the sense of decreasing superoxide production and increasing MnSOD levels, but with differential effect in mechanisms and time dynamics. Our findings suggest that NMDA and AMPA/kainate receptors are differentially involved in superoxide production, and they also impose different neuroprotective effects on the induction of MnSOD activity in hippocampus.