The toxic effects of rotenone on glutamate concentration and glutamate transporter expression in PC12 cells

Objective To study the relationship between neurotoxicity of rotenone and the expression of glutamate transporter.Methods MTT assay was used to evaluate the toxicity of rotenone on PC12 cells viability.Using high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC)to detect the alteration of glutamate in the extracellular fluid of the PC12 cells.The expression of EAAC1 mRNA and protein were measured by RT-PCR and Western blot.Results The viability of cell cultures was obviously decreased after being treated with 0.25 μmol/L rotenone for 24 h.Rotenone was also shown to increase the release of glutamate in PC12 cells and suppress the expression of EAAC1 significantly.Conclusions The neurotoxicity of rotenone is associated with increased release of glutamate in extracellular fluid,which may be induced by declined expression of glutamate transporter.