Trophic action of pharmacological substances with a guanidine group on mouse neuroblastoma cells and chick ganglionic neurons in culture.

A series of substances (designated CTQ compounds) with a guanidine group have been synthesized and tested for their ability to promote neuronal survival and neurite outgrowth. Mouse neuroblastoma clonal cell lines grown in serum-containing medium for 10 days as well as primary cultures of embryonic chicken ganglion neurons grown in serum-free defined medium for 1 or 2 days have been used for the experiments. Among the various CTQ compounds (CTQ1-CTQ20) tested, only CTQ8 exerted positive neurotrophic effects on these peripheral neuronal cells. At a concentration of 10(-4) M, CTQ8 enhanced neuritogenesis of neuroblastoma cells. However, the most striking influence of CTQ8 was its promoting effect (6- to 10-fold) on the survival of chicken ciliary and dorsal root ganglionic neurons at concentrations ranging from 10(-3) M to 5 x 10(-4) M.