The toxicity of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP), its oxidized metabolite, and two recently synthesized 2'-alkyl derivatives of MPTP (methyl and ethyl), found to be more toxic in vivo in mice, have been compared in two neuroblastoma hybrid cell lines (NCB-20 and 140-3) that express the B form of monoamine oxidase (MAO), as tissue culture models for the mode of action of MPTP in the central nervous system. Unlike previously reported studies with cultured cells of neuronal origin expressing only MAO A, both of these cell lines were sensitive to MPTP. Consistent with the in vivo findings, the 2'-alkyl derivatives were much more toxic than MPTP and comparable to the oxidized metabolite MPP+ in their effects on cell survival and morphology. The cells could be protected against the reduced toxins, but not MPP+, by either the MAO A selective inhibitor, clorgyline or the MAO B selective inhibitor, deprenyl. The effectiveness of the MAO inhibitors in blocking the action of the reduced toxins was consistent with their ability to inhibit MAO activity in the cell cultures, but did not reflect MAO-substrate specificity of the toxins. Inhibitors of serotonin and dopamine uptake, which have been found to protect against MPTP toxicity in vivo, were generally ineffective in the cell cultures, with the exception of a marginal increase in survival of MPP(+)-treated 140-3 cells in the presence of the serotonin uptake inhibitor fluoxetine. These findings are discussed in relation to proposed in vivo mechanisms of MPTP cytotoxicity.