Differential sensitivity of rat cerebellar cells in vitro to the neurotoxic effects of excitatory amino acid analogues.

The neurotoxic effects of N-methyl-D-aspartate, quisqualate and kainate were studied in slice preparations of adult rat cerebellum. Only the inhibitory interneurones (basket, stellate and Golgi cells) were affected by N-methyl-D-aspartate in concentrations up to 300 microM. Quisqualate (10-100 microM) affected both Purkinje cells and inhibitory interneurones but spared granule cells. Kainate affected Purkinje cells and inhibitory interneurones at a concentration of 10 microM but at 30 microM also damaged granule cells. The relative potencies of these compounds and the vulnerability of the different cell types to their neurotoxic effects are in accordance with the predictions of the excitotoxic hypothesis and therefore do not support a special mechanism for kainate neurotoxicity in the cerebellum.