L glutamic acid monosodium

Glycine (G/0800/60, Fisher Chemical), l-glutamic acid monosodium (49621, Sigma-Aldrich), and l-aspartic acid (A9256, Sigma-Aldrich) were dissolved in sterile deionized water to reach a concentration of 100 mM. For all solutions, pH was adjusted to 7 using 0.1 M NaOH if necessary.

Rat adrenal pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells were used for this study. The cell line was obtained from ATCC. Bh and AA were purchased from Sigma (cat.# 122,228,198 and SH300341 respectively). RPMI, FBS and L-glutamic acid monosodium (lMSG) were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich Co. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) reagents were provided by Promega. Trypan Blue solution, L-glutamin, penicillin and streptomycin were obtained from HyClone U.S. MK801 blocker was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich, Germany. RNA Miniprep Kit was purchased from Promega, USA, and RT-PCR from Norgen Biotek, Canada. Acetylthiocholine iodide (ATCI), butyrylthiocholineiodide (BTCI) and all other reagents used for the current study were purchased from Sigma–Aldrich (USA).