Survival of neurons is dependent on the presence of trophic and non-trophic factors. Previous findings showed that purine nucleosides have the potential to rescue cells from hypoxia-induced cell death. Here we demonstrate that purine nucleoside guanosine can efficiently rescue neuronal PC12 cells from serum deprivation-induced cell death. By means of Hoechst/propidium iodide staining and fluorescence analysis a 31.1% decrease of cell death was detected. These data support current efforts to propagate purine nucleosides as neuroprotective and neuroregenerative substances.
