Abstract
Epilepsy is one of the most common and severe brain diseases. The exact cause of epilepsy is unclear. Epilepsy often occurs following brain damage, such as traumatic brain injury (TBI) and ischemia. Cerebrolysin is a porcine brain peptide that is a unique neurotropic and neuroprotective agent. Cerebrolysin has been reported to increase neuroprotective effects after TBI, ischemia, and other CNS diseases. However, the effects of cerebrolysin on seizures are not known. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of neuropeptide cerebrolysin on neuronal death in the hippocampus after a seizure. To confirm the effects of cerebrolysin, we used a pilocarpine-induced seizure animal model. Cerebrolysin (2.5 ml/kg, i.p., once per day for 7 days) was immediately injected after a seizure induction. After 1 week, we obtained brain tissues and performed staining to histologically evaluate the potentially protective effects of cerebrolysin on seizure-induced neuronal death in the hippocampus. We found that cerebrolysin decreased hippocampal neuronal death after a seizure. In addition, an increase in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) was confirmed through Western blot analysis to further support our hypothesis. Therefore, the present study suggests that the administration of cerebrolysin can be a useful therapeutic tool for preventing neuronal death after a seizure.
Highlights
Epilepsy is one of the most common brain diseases, affecting about 70 million people worldwide (Thijs et al, 2019)
We found that the group treated with cerebrolysin showed a decreased density of glial cells in the hippocampal cornu ammonis1 (CA1) and CA3 regions compared to the seizure-vehicle group (Figure 3)
The present study found that the administration of cerebrolysin decreased seizure-induced neuronal death and glial activation by increasing brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels
Summary
Epilepsy is one of the most common brain diseases, affecting about 70 million people worldwide (Thijs et al, 2019). Epilepsy has diverse subtypes and several co-occurring symptoms, the main causes of re-occurring epilepsy are the chronic downregulation of inhibitory neurotransmission or the overactivation of excitatory synaptic neurotransmission (Goldberg and Coulter, 2013). Epilepsy often occurs after other brain diseases, such as traumatic brain injury and ischemia (Goldberg and Coulter, 2013). Cognitive impairment and neuronal injury in epileptic patients remain important medical problems Pilocarpine-induced seizure causes severe and extensive neuronal damage in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus (Turski et al, 1983; Leite et al, 1990; Lee M. et al, 2018)
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