Blood glutamate scavenging as a novel neuroprotective treatment for paraoxon intoxication

Angela Ruban, Boaz Mohar, Ghil Jona, Vivian I. Teichberg

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

Organophosphate-induced brain damage is an irreversible neuronal injury, likely because there is no pharmacological treatment to prevent or block secondary damage processes. The presence of free glutamate (Glu) in the brain has a substantial role in the propagation and maintenance of organophosphate-induced seizures, thus contributing to the secondary brain damage. This report describes for the first time the ability of blood glutamate scavengers (BGS) oxaloacetic acid in combination with glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase to reduce the neuronal damage in an animal model of paraoxon (PO) intoxication. Our method causes a rapid decrease of blood Glu levels and creates a gradient that leads to the efflux of the excess brain Glu into the blood, thus reducing neurotoxicity. We demonstrated that BGS treatment significantly prevented the peripheral benzodiazepine receptor (PBR) density elevation, after PO exposure. Furthermore, we showed that BGS was able to rescue neurons in the piriform cortex of the treated rats. In conclusion, these results suggest that treatment with BGS has a neuroprotective effect in the PO intoxication. This is the first time that this approach is used in PO intoxication and it may be of high clinical significance for the future treatment of the secondary neurologic damage post organophosphates exposure.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)221-227
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism
Volume34
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Feb 2014
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Neurology
  • Clinical Neurology
  • Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Blood glutamate scavenging as a novel neuroprotective treatment for paraoxon intoxication'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this