Experimental study of protective effects of topiramate on neurons in immature rats with chronic epilepsy / 中华神经医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the innuence of single-drug topirmate(TPM)on injured neurons of immature rats with chronic epilepsy. Methods A total of 72 male Wistar rats around 3-4 weeks of age were randomly allocated into 6 groups, 12 rats each. Group A: negative control group;group B:positive control group;group C:low-dose TPM group(20 mg/kg);group D:medium-dose TPM group(40 mg/kg);group E:high-dose TPM group(80 mg/kg);group F:united drug group[TPM 40 mg/kg+sodium valproate (VPA) 200 mg/kg]. Groups B-F belonged to the chronic epilepsy group,including rat models of epilepsy induced by intraperitoneal injection of pentylenetetrazol(PTZ)before the administration of TPM. After two-month administration, changes in body weight, behavioral performance,the level of serum neuron-specific enolase(NSE)and pathology in the hippocampus were examined. Results (1)The effect of group E on body weight of immature rats was significantly obvious than that of gruop B and gruop F.(2)Duration and degree of epileptic seizures induced by PTZ were respectively prolonged and alleviated in groups D and E. (3) NSE levels in groups administered with different doses of TPM were evidently lower than that in group B and there was no difference between group F and single-drug TPM groups.(4) Degenerative changes of hippocampal neurons and degree of glial cell hyperplasia were remarkably alleviated in group E. Conclusions TPM may alleviate the severity of neural injury following epileptic seizures in immature rats, with the existence of the dose effect;however,TPM plus VPA may impair its neuroprotective effects.