Chronic sabeluzole treatment of cultured rat cerebellar granule cells reduces N-methyl-D-aspartate-induced inward current.

The effects of sabeluzole, a drug that protects rat hippocampal neurones from glutamate- and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-induced toxicity, were investigated in rat cerebellar granule cells in vitro with the whole-cell voltage clamp technique. Acute exposure of 0.1 microM sabeluzole for 20 min prior to experiments did not significantly affect glutamate receptor-mediated inward currents. Conversely, exposure of cultured granule cells to sabeluzole for 7 days reduced the NMDA-induced inward current and did not affect the non-NMDA responses evoked by kainic acid. The results suggest that chronic treatment with sabeluzole selectively reduces the functional NMDA response.