Glutamatergic Dysbalance and Oxidative Stress in In Vivo and In Vitro Models of Psychosis Based on Chronic NMDA Receptor Antagonism

Background: The psychotomimetic effects of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists in healthy humans and their tendency to aggravate psychotic symptoms in schizophrenic patients have promoted the notion of altered glutamatergic neurotransmission in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Methods: The NMDA-receptor antagonist MK-801 was chronically administered to rats (0.02 mg/kg intraperitoneally for 14 days). In one subgroup the antipsychotic haloperidol (1 mg/kg) was employed as a rescue therapy. Glutamate distribution and 3-NT (3-nitrotyrosine) as a marker of oxidative stress were assessed by immunohistochemistry in tissue sections. In parallel, the effects of MK-801 and haloperidol were investigated in primary embryonal hippocampal cell cultures from rats. Results: Chronic NMDA-R antagonism led to a marked increase of intracellular glutamate in the hippocampus (126.1 +/- 10.4% S.E.M of control; p = 0.037), while 3-NT staining intensity remained unaltered. No differences were observed in extrahippocampal brain regions. Essentially these findings could be reproduced in vitro. Conclusion: The combined in vivo and in vitro strategy allowed us to assess the implications of disturbed glutamate metabolism for the occurrence of oxidative stress and to investigate the effects of antipsychotics. Our data suggest that oxidative stress plays a minor role in this model than previously suggested. The same applies to apoptosis. Moreover, the effect of haloperidol seems to be mediated through yet unidentified mechanisms, unrelated to D2-antagonism. These convergent lines of evidence indicate that further research should be focused on the glutamatergic system and that our animal model may provide a tool to explore the biology of schizophrenia.