Trans-(+-)-1-amino-1,3-cyclopentanedicarboxylate (trans-ACPD) stimulates cAMP accumulation in rat cerebral cortical slices but not in glial or neuronal cultures.

Recent cloning experiments indicate that multiple metabotropic receptors for excitatory amino acids (EAAs) exist, which are coupled to adenylate cyclase. Trans-(+-)-1-amino-1,3-cyclopentanedicarboxylate (trans-ACPD) is a selective agonist of metabotropic receptors for EAAs. One of the effects of trans-ACPD is stimulation of cAMP accumulation. In the present experiments, cAMP accumulation was measured using a [3H]adenine-prelabelling technique. It has been found that trans-AC-PD was able to induce significant stimulation of cAMP accumulation in rat cerebral cortical slices, with ED50 of 47.8 microM, which value is similar to that described earlier for hippocampal slices. However, trans-ACPD had no effect on cAMP accumulation either in primary neuronal or glial cell cultures. The reason for the lack of effects of trans-ACPD on cAMP accumulation in primary cultures from glial cells and neurons is discussed.