Effects of topiramate on hippocampal neuronal apoptosis in rats after kainic acid-evoked seizures*☆

BACKGROUND： Apoptosis plays an important role in brain injury after seizures and the formation of chronic epilepsy. It is important to investigate whether topiramate exhibits either antiepileptic and/or antiapoptotic effects on hippocampal neurons. OBJECTIVE： To observe neuronal apoptosis in hippocampus of rat seizure models, and to investigate the antagonizing effect of topiramate on neuronal apoptosis after seizures.
DESIGN： An animal experiment of comparative observation.
SETTING： First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University. MATERIALS： Sixty healthy male Sprague Dawley （SD） rats, 4-6 weeks old and weighing 160-220 g, were provided by the Experimental Animal Center of Guangxi Medical University. Main apparatus and reagents were as follows： Rat brain solid positioner （SR-6N, made in Japan）; kainic acid by Sigma （USA）; pathological image analyzer （DMR＋550） by Leica （Germany）; in situ apoptosis detection kit by Wuhan Boster Biological Technology Co., Ltd; topiramate by Xi＇an-Janssen Pharmaceutical, Ltd. The treatment on animals in the experiment was in accordance with the standards of animal ethics. METHODS： The experiments were performed at the Scientific Experimental Center of Guangxi Medical University from June to December 2006. The rats were randomly divided into a topiramate-treated group （n = 30） and a model group （n = 30）. ① After anesthesia, all rats were administered a kainic acid injection （0.2 μL, 2 g/L） into the right lateral ventricle. Grade Ⅲ and greater Racine standards were considered to be a successful model establishment. Thirty minutes after seizure , rats in the topiramate-treated group were treated with an intraperitoneal （i.p.） injection of topiramate every day （40 mg/kg/d） for 2 weeks. The rats in the model group were treated with an equal volume of saline for 2 weeks. ③ Six rats in the topiramate-treated group were sacrificed at 1 day, and 1, 2, 3, and 4 weeks after treatment, respectively. The model group ani

Effects of topiramate on hippocampal neuronal apoptosis n rats after kainic acid-evoked seizures

seizure neuron apoptosis topiramate