Brain ischemia causes excess release and accumulation of glutamate that binds to postsynaptic receptors. This opens ionotropic channels that mediate neuronal depolarization and ionic fluxes that can lead to neuronal death. 2. The CA1 pyramidal cell region of the hippocampus is particularly susceptible to this neurotoxic process. Brain cell swelling is considered an early excitotoxic event, but remains poorly under stood and documented. As cells swell, light transmittance (LT) increases through brain tissue, so we hypothesized that brief exposure to glutamate agonists would elicit cell swelling that could be imaged in real time in the hippocampal slice. 3. A 1-min bath application of 100 microM N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) or 100 microM kainate at 22 degrees C greatly increased LT, particularly in the dendritic regions of CA1. The response peaked by 2-3 min and slowly reversed over the subsequent 20 min following exposure. Peak LT increases were > 50% in CA1 stratum radiatum and > 20% in both CA1 stratum oriens and the dendritic region of the dentate gyrus, all areas with a high concentration of NMDA and alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate (AMPA) receptors. The CA3 stratum radiatum, which contains fewer of these receptors, showed a comparatively small LT increase. 4. The NMDA receptor antagonist 2-amino-5-phosphonovalerate (AP-5) [but not 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione (CNQX)] blocked the CA1 response to NMDA, whereas the non-NMDA receptor antagonist CNQX (but not AP-5) blocked the response to kainate. The relative tissue resistance measured across CA1 stratum radiatum increased after NMDA or kainate exposure with a time course similar to the LT change described above. The increase in relative tissue resistance was blocked by kynurenate, a nonspecific glutamate antagonist. Increases in both LT and tissue resistance provide two independent lines of evidence that cell swelling rapidly developed in CA1 dendritic areas after activation of NMDA or AMPA receptors. 5. This swelling at 22 degrees C was accompanied by a temporary loss of the evoked CA1 field potential. However, at 37 degrees C the dendritic swelling rapidly progressed to an irreversible LT increase (swelling) of the CA1 cell bodies accompanied by a permanent loss of the evoked field. 6. We propose that dendritic swelling mediated by NMDA and AMPA receptors is an early excitotoxic event that can herald permanent damage to CA1 neurons, those cells most vulnerable to ischemic insult.
