Short-term effects of kainic acid on rat cerebellar cells in monolayer cultures.

Monolayer cultures of postnatal day 5 rat cerebellar cells were grown for three weeks in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium, supplemented with either 10% horse serum or a defined hormone mixture. Sensitivity to kainic acid (10(-4)M) was monitored both morphologically and by uptake of [3H]GABA (with and without the glial uptake inhibitor beta-alanine). Morphological changes could be detected after only 30 min of exposure to the kainic acid. After 4 h, granule cells appeared intact, while specific neuronal GABA uptake was about half that of untreated controls.