For the first time, the results of the present study demonstrate that JNJ-46356479, a recently developed mGluR2 PAM, is not neurotoxic and attenuates apoptosis in neuroblastoma cell cultures, particularly decreasing the caspase 3 activation induced by DA and GLU and increasing and decreasing the number of viable and apoptotic cells, respectively, only when cultures were exposed to GLU. This evidence concerns the gene CASP3 and neuroblastoma.