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Comparison of Neurotoxicity of L-Monosodium Glutamate and a Commercially Available Glutamate Salt in PC-12 cells

Heba T. Nasser1, Amina A. Hassan1, Nailah Mahmood1, Rukhsana Nawaz1, Faisal Khan2 and Fadwa Al Mughairbi1*
  • 1 United Arab Emirates University, United Arab Emirates
  • 2 International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Pakistan

Glutamate is a main neurotransmitter of the central nervous system. Its analog l-monosodium glutamate (lMSG) may produce excitotoxicity in the brain at higher concentration. The neurotoxicity by glutamate is the major contributor to neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson, Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases among others. The dietary intake of MSG has always been a quandary for both researchers and the Food Drug Administration (FDA). Although the US-FDA has designated MSG as “safe”, various studies have shown the association of dietary intake of MSG distress like muscle tightness, headache, arrhythmias, general weakness. Many studies have been done to evaluate the damaging effect of lMSG but a commercially available MSG salt (CAMSG) has not been well studied. Keeping in view, additives can increase or decrease the deleterious effects of MSG, this study was carried out to compare the neurotoxicity of the CAMSG and lMSG on PC12 cells (rat adrenal pheochromocytoma). Methods: Since the relative amount of MSG and additives present in CAMSG is a proprietary data, so we used the same concentration as lMSG concentration. The effect of MSG and CAMSG on PC-12 viability was checked after 24, 48 and 72hrs by MTT assay and LDH assay. The expression of apoptotic genes Caspase-3 and Bcl-2 were seen by RT-PCR. Results: Analysis showed that both CAMSG and lMSG reduced cell viability dose-dependently. When compared, CAMSG reduced viability more than lMSG significantly. Similarly, CAMSG and lMSG increased cell toxicity in concentration-dependent manner, which was analyzed using the LDH assay. The percentage of cell death in CAMSG treated cells was higher than those treated by lMSG. Our molecular results showed that the expression of caspase-3 was increased by using lMSG and reversed back by using NMDA blocker MK801. In the CAMSG treated cells, MK801 did not reduce the expression of caspase-3 gene. These results suggest that CAMSG has more toxic effects on cells than lMSG. However, further studies need to assess the change in toxicity of CAMSG and while assessing the safety of CAMSG, the additives should also be taken into account. It is also recommended that further studies replicate the results obtained by this study, which can be explored in vivo as the next step, to eventually determine the neurotoxic effects of CAMSG and lMSG on human physiology.

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Keywords: Monosodium glutamate, PC12 cell line, Cytotoxicity, neurodegenerative disease, Additives

Conference: 4th International Conference on Educational Neuroscience, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 10 Mar - 11 Mar, 2019.

Presentation Type: Poster Presentation

Topic: Educational Neuroscience

Citation: Nasser HT, Hassan AA, Mahmood N, Nawaz R, Khan F and Al Mughairbi F (2019). Comparison of Neurotoxicity of L-Monosodium Glutamate and a Commercially Available Glutamate Salt in PC-12 cells. Conference Abstract: 4th International Conference on Educational Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2019.229.00026

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Received: 07 Mar 2019; Published Online: 27 Sep 2019.

* Correspondence: PhD. Fadwa Al Mughairbi, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, f.almughairbi@uaeu.ac.ae