Extracellular Acidosis, Cysteine, and Glutathione Enhance the Toxic Effect of Copper Ions in Cultures of Cerebellar Granule Neurons.

We studied the effect of extracellular acidosis, cysteine, glutathione, and iron ions (Fe) on the neurocytotoxic effect of copper ions (Cu) in vitro. At acidic pH of the culture medium (pH 6.8), the toxic effect of copper on cultured neurons significantly increased in comparison with that at neutral pH 7.