Preventive Effect of 3,5-dihydroxy-4-methoxybenzyl Alcohol (DHMBA) and Zinc, Components of the Pacific Oyster Crassostrea gigas, on Glutamatergic Neuron Activity in the Hippocampus.

The effects of 3,5-dihydroxy-4-methoxybenzyl alcohol (DHMBA), and zinc--both components of the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas--were examined by glutamatergic neuron activity in rats in an in vivo microdialysis experiment and an in vitro brain slice experiment. The basal concentration of extracellular glutamate in the hippocampus was decreased under hippocampal perfusion with DHMBA (1 mmol l(-1)) or ZnCl2 (μmol l(-1)), indicating that DHMBA and Zn(2+) suppress glutamatergic neuron activity under basal (static) conditions. To assess the preventive effect of DHMBA and Zn(2+) on glutamate release from neuron terminals, brain slices were pretreated with DHMBA (1 mmol l(-1)) or ZnCl2 (100 nmol l(-1)) for 1 h, then stimulated with high K(+).