Protective effect of CCK-8 and ceruletide on glutamate-induced neuronal cell death in rat neuron cultures: possible involvement of CCK-B receptors.

Cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK-8), ceruletide (CLT) and gastrin-I, which were added simultaneously with glutamate to rat neuron cultures, significantly suppressed the neuronal cell death induced by glutamate which can be observed from the efflux of lactate dehydroxylase into the culture medium. However, gastrin-I (1-13) had no effect on the response to glutamate. The inhibitory effect of CLT on glutamate-induced neuronal cell death could be completely blocked by a selective antagonist for CCK-B receptors, (+)L-365,260. These findings clearly indicate that CCK-8, CLT and gastrin-I exhibit a protective effect against glutamate-induced neurotoxicity via the CCK-B receptor.