Cortical spreading depression-induced preconditioning in mouse neocortex is lamina specific

Cortical spreading depression (CSD) is able to confer neuroprotection when delivered at least 1 day in advance of an ischemic event. However, its ability to confer neuroprotection in a more immediate time frame has not previously been investigated. Here we have used mouse neocortical brain slices to study the effects of repeated episodes of CSD in layer V and layer II/III pyramidal neurons. In layer V, CSD evoked at 15-min intervals caused successively smaller membrane depolarizations and increases in intracellular calcium compared with the response to the first CSD. With an inter-CSD interval of 30 min this preconditioning effect was much less marked, indicating that preconditioning lasts between 15 and 30 min. A single episode of CSD also provided a degree of protection in oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) by significantly lengthening the time a cell could withstand OGD before anoxic depolarization occurred. In layer II/III pyramidal neurons no preconditioning by CSD on subsequent episodes of CSD was observed, demonstrating that the response of pyramidal neurons to repeated CSD is lamina specific. The A 1 receptor antagonist 8-cyclopentyl theophylline (8-CPT) reduced the layer V preconditioning in a concentration-related manner. Inhibition of extracellular formation of adenosine by blocking ecto-5'-nucleotidase with alpha,beta-methyleneadenosine 5'-diphosphate prevented preconditioning in most but not all cells. Block of equilibrative nucleoside transporters 1 and 2 with dipyramidole alone or in combination with 6-[(4-nitrobenzyl)thio]-9-beta-D-ribofuranosylpurine also prevented preconditioning in some but not all cells. These data provide evidence that rapid preconditioning of one CSD by another is primarily mediated by adenosine.