PURPOSE Zebrafish are a vertebrate organism ideally suited to mutagenesis screening strategies. Although a genetic basis for seizure susceptibility and epilepsy is well established, no efforts have been made to study seizure resistance. Here we describe a novel strategy to isolate seizure-resistant zebrafish mutants from a large-scale mutagenesis screen. METHODS Seizures were induced with pen...

The anticonvulsant activity of BmK AS, a sodium channel site 4-selective modulator purified from scorpion venom (Buthus martensi Karsch), was investigated in unanesthetized rats with acute pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)- and pilocarpine-induced seizures. Rats were microinjected in the CA1 region with either saline or BmK AS, followed by epileptogenic doses of PTZ or pilocarpine 30 minutes later. The ...

Adenosine is an endogenous modulator of brain functions, which presents anticonvulsant properties. In addition, its levels can be increased during neural injury. The modulation of extracellular adenosine levels by ectonucleotidase and adenosine deaminase (ADA) activities may represent a key mechanism in the control of epileptogenesis. In the present study, we investigated the effects of acute s...

This study examines the effects of cyclodextrin (CD) on the photophysical properties of 1,8-naphthalimide (NI) derivatives including NI-linker-phenothiazine (NI-L-PTZ) dyads in a H2O/CH3CN solution (v/v = 9 : 1). Peculiar excimer and exciplex emissions were observed with reference NI and NI-L-PTZ, respectively, in an aqueous environment. The NI-CD complexes exhibited monomeric emission spectral...

The effect of acute (120 mg/kg) and chronic (25 mg/kg, twice a day, for 4 days) intraperitonial injection of the nitric oxide (NO) synthase (NOS) inhibitor NG-nitro-L-arginine (L-NOARG) was evaluated on seizure induction by drugs such as pilocarpine and pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) and by sound stimulation of audiogenic seizure-resistant (R) and audiogenic seizure-susceptible (S) rats. Seizures wer...

Our previous study showed that the expression of miR-181a in memory impairment group of pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-induced epileptic rats was up-regulated, but whether miR-181a influenced the cognitive function of PTZ-induced epileptic rats remains unknown. Therefore, we investigated the role of miR-181a in the cognitive function of PTZ-induced epileptic rats. A model of temporal lobe epilepsy (TL...

It is believed that a deficiency of androgens, including free testosterone, may promote the development of convulsions. The present study revealed differences in the action of androsterone (AND), a major excreted metabolite of testosterone and a neurosteroid, in three commonly used seizure models in mice. AND administered intraperitoneally exhibited dose-dependent protection against tonic-cloni...

INTRODUCTION Epilepsy is a neural disorder in which abnormal plastic changes during short and long term periods lead to increased excitability of brain tissue. Kindling is an animal model of epileptogenesis which results in changes of synaptic plasticity due to repetitive electrical or chemical sub-convulsive stimulations of the brain. Lateral hypothalamus, as the main niche of orexin neurons w...

PURPOSE To characterize the interaction between tiagabine (TGB) and valproate (VPA)--two antiepileptic drugs in the mouse pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced clonic seizure model, type I isobolographic analysis for non-parallel dose-response relationship curves (DRRCs) was used. MATERIAL AND METHODS Clonic seizures were evoked in albino Swiss mice by subcutaneous injection of PTZ at its CD97 (10...

Introduction: In the Kindling-induced seizure model, low and repeated electrical or chemical stimulations, can elevate the neural network excitability and induce epileptiform seizures. Opioid receptors are widely distributed in different areas of the brain. On the other hand, morphine has paradoxical effects and induces elevation or alleviation of the pain sensation and excitability, at differe...