New opportunities with neuronal cultures to study the mechanisms of neurotoxic injuries.

Clonal lines of murine neuroblastoma (NBP2) and rat glioma (C6) were used to investigate the effects of methylmercuric chloride (CH3HgCl). Glioma cells were more sensitive to CH3HgCl than NB cells on the criterion of growth inhibition, but these cells were equally sensitive to inorganic mercury (HgCl1), Tri-n-butyl lead acetate and acrylamide on the same criterion. Alpha-tocopherol, alpha-tocopheryl++ succinate and inhibitors of cAMP phosphodiesterase protected glioma cells against the growth-inhibitory effect of CH3HgCl, but they failed to protect NB cells in culture. Glioma factors, sodium ascorbate, non-inhibitory concentrations of prostaglandins E1 (PGE1), and glutamate enhanced the growth-inhibitory effect of CH3HgCl on both NB and glioma cells in culture. The levels of certain specific cAMP-dependent and -independent protein phosphorylations appear to be very sensitive to CH3HgCl, and can be altered in both cell types by concentrations of CH3HgCl which do not affect growth or morphology of these cells.