Galacto-N-biose is neuroprotective against glutamate-induced excitotoxicity in vitro

Galacto-N-biose (GNB: Galβ1-3GalNAc) is an O-glycan disaccharide core moiety that is a core component of mucin in the gastrointestinal tract; however, the physiological properties of GNB are not well understood. Glutamate excitotoxicity causes neuronal death in acute neurological disorders including stroke, trauma, and neurodegenerative disease. Therefore the discovery of drugs to treat glutamate excitotoxicity is an important goal. Here, we report that GNB is neuroprotective against glutamate-induced excitotoxicity. We treated 14-15 days in vitro cultured rat cortical neurons with 0.1-1000 nM GNB together with 30 µm glutamate for various durations. Short-term (3 h) GNB treatments showed a modest neuroprotective effect against glutamate neurotoxicity, however, long-term (24 h) GNB treatment conferred significant neuroprotective effects, as shown by both MTT and immunocytochemical assays. Prolonged GNB treatment did not alter glutamate-induced calcium influx, but did induce antioxidant-related gene expression. Furthermore, GNB treatment did not induce cell death or alter synaptic connections. These data suggest that GNB is a potential candidate drug that protects against glutamate excitotoxicity without affecting cell viability and synaptic connections.