Evidence suggests oxidative and electrophilic stress as a major factor contributing to the neuronal cell death in neurodegenerative disorders, especially Parkinson's disease. Consistent with this concept, administration of exogenous antioxidants has been shown to be protective against oxidative/electrophilic neurodegeneration. However, whether induction of endogenous antioxidants and phase 2 enzymes by the unique chemoprotectant, 3H-1,2-dithiole-3-thione (D3T) in neuronal cells also affords protection against oxidative and electrophilic neurocytotoxicity has not been carefully investigated. In this study, we showed that incubation of SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells or primary human neurons with micromolar concentrations (10-100 microM) of D3T for 24 h resulted in significant increases in the levels of reduced glutathione (GSH) and NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1), two crucial cellular defenses against oxidative and electrophilic stress. D3T treatment also caused increases in mRNA expression of gamma-glutamylcysteine ligase catalytic subunit and NQO1 in SH-SY5Y cells. In addition, D3T treatment of the neuronal cells also resulted in a marked elevation of GSH content in the mitochondrial compartment. To determine the protective effects of the D3T-induced cellular defenses on neurotoxicant-elicited cell injury, SH-SY5Y cells were pretreated with D3T for 24 h and then exposed to dopamine, 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA), 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE), or H2O2, agents that are known to be involved in neuron degeneration. We observed that D3T-pretreatment of SH-SY5Y cells led to significant protection against the cytotoxicity elicited by the above neurotoxicants. Similar neurocytoprotective effects of D3T-pretreatment were also observed in primary human neurons exposed to 6-OHDA or HNE. Taken together, this study demonstrates that D3T potently induces neuronal cellular GSH and NQO1 as well as mitochondrial GSH, and that such upregulated endogenous defenses are accompanied by increased resistance to oxidative and electrophilic neurocytotoxicity.