Hundred-fold increase in neuronal vulnerability to glutamate toxicity in astrocyte-poor cultures of rat cerebral cortex.

In cultures of rat cerebral cortex in which astrocyte proliferation was stringently suppressed, glutamate neurotoxicity occurred at glutamate concentrations similar to those which are normally found in the extracellular space in the hippocampus. Concentrations of glutamate one hundred-fold higher were required to produce neurotoxicity in the presence of abundant astrocytes. This suggests that the sensitivity of central neurons to glutamate toxicity may be dependent upon astrocyte function.