Effects of Ischaemic Conditions on Uptake of Glutamate, Aspartate, and Noradrenaline by Cell Lines Derived from the Human Nervous System

: The effect of hypoglycaemic, hypoxic, and ischaemic conditions on high‐affinity neurotransmitter transport was studied in the human astrocytoma clone D384 and the human neuroblastoma clone SH‐SY5Y. Both cell lines expressed a sodium‐dependent glutamate/aspartate transporter. Km values for d‐[3H]aspartate uptake were 6.1 ± 0.9 µM for D384 cells and 5.3 ± 0.3 µM for SH‐SY5Y cells (mean ± SEM of three experiments). In addition, SH‐SY5Y, but not D384, expressed a sodium‐dependent noradrenaline transporter with Km = 0.6 ± 0.1 µM (mean ± SEM of three experiments). Up to 3 h of hypoglycaemic conditions had no effect on neurotransmitter uptake or on ATP levels of each cell line. In sharp contrast, during hypoxic conditions, the uptake of d‐[3H]aspartate and [3H]noradrenaline declined by 43–56% within 5 min. These reduced rates of neurotransmitter uptake were maintained over 30 min of hypoxic conditions. Five minutes of ischaemic conditions caused similar reductions in neurotransmitter uptake rates. A correlation between reductions in rates of neurotransmitter uptake and in ATP levels was observed for each cell line. Results are discussed in relation to other brain preparations, which are used as models of the nervous system to study the effects of ischaemic conditions on neurotransmitter and energy metabolism.