Rasagiline, a monoamine oxidase-B inhibitor, protects NGF-differentiated PC12 cells against oxygen-glucose deprivation

In our in vitro model, rasagiline a selective irreversible monoamine oxidase-B (MAO-B) inhibitor, protected nerve growth factor (NGF)- differentiated PC12 cells from cell death under oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD). The severity of the OGD insult, as expressed by cell death, was time-dependent. Exposure of the cells to OGD for 3 hr followed by 18 hr of reoxygenation caused about 30-40% cell death. Under these conditions, the neuroprotective effect of rasagiline was dose-dependent: rasagiline reducing OGD-induced cell death by 68% and 80% at 100 nM and 1 μM, respectively. The neuroprotective effect of rasagiline was also observed when added after the OGD insult (55% reduction in cell death). Under rasagiline treatment, there was a lesser decrease in ATP content in cultures exposed to OGD compared with that in untreated cultures. OGD followed by reoxygenation resulted in a several fold increase in PGE₂ release into the extracellular medium. Rasagiline (100 nM-1 μM) markedly inhibited OGD- induced PGE₂ release. Clorgyline, a monoamine oxidase-A (MAO-A) inhibitor, did not protect NGF-differentiated PC12 cells against OGD-induced cell death. As NGF-differentiated PC12 cells contain exclusively MAO type A, these data suggest that the neuroprotective effect of rasagiline under OGD conditions is independent of MAO inhibition.