Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease resulting from the progressive loss of motor neurons in the spinal cord and brain. To date, clinically effective neuroprotective agents have not been available. The current study demonstrates for the first time that huperzine A, a potential neuroprotective agent, has the ability to protect a motor neuron-like cell line and motor neurons in spinal cord organotypic cultures from toxin-induced cell death. The neuroblastoma-spinal motor neuron fusion cell line, NSC34 and rat spinal cord organotypic cultures (OTC) were exposed to cell death inducers for 24 h or 14 d, respectively, with and without pre-treatment with huperzine A. The inducers used here include: staurosporine, thapsigargin, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenyl hydrazone (CCCP) and L-(-)-threo-3-hydroxyaspartic acid (THA). These agents were selected as they induce apoptosis/necrosis via mechanisms implicated in patients with generalized motor neuron disease. Cell death was determined in NSC34 cells by metabolic activity, caspase activity/expression and by nuclear morphology and in the OTCs, using immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis. Nuclear staining of NSC34 cells revealed cell death induced by staurosporine, thapsigargin, H2O2 and CCCP. This induction was significantly reduced with 2 h pre-treatment with 10 microM huperzine A (maximum, 35% rescue; p 0.05) following exposure to staurosporine, thapsigargin and H2O2 but not with CCCP. These data were supported by the metabolic assays and caspase activity. In addition, pre-treatment with huperzine A dramatically improved motor neuron survival, based on choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) expression analysis in OTCs following exposure to THA, and compared to THA-treated control cultures. These studies are currently being extended to include other inducers and with additional compounds as potential drug therapies that could be used in combination for the treatment of patients with ALS.