The Effect of Curcumin on Anxiety and Recognition Memory in Kainate Model of Epileptic Rats

Abstract

The effect of curcumin had been studied on anxiety and recognition memory in kainic acid-induced epilepsy. A single dose of intraperitoneal kainic acid (10 mg/kg) was used to induce status epilepticus in female Wistar rats, followed by respective treatments (vehicle dimethyl sulfoxide 50%, curcumin 100 mg/kg/d or levetiracetam 100 mg/kg/d) on the next day for 7 d, with minimum of six rats per group. The behavioural tests were performed before seizure induction and after treatment. Vehicle-treated epileptic rats showed an increase in anxiety-like behaviours in the open field test, which less observed in the light/dark box test. Levetiracetam-treated epileptic rats exhibited anxiolytic behaviours in both the tests. Curcumin-treated epileptic rats exhibited not much difference in anxiety-like behaviour before and after the treatment in open field test, but exhibited anxiolytic behaviours in light/dark box test. Kainic acid impaired the both spatial and non-spatial recognition memories of the rats. Curcumin treatment showed reversal in the non-spatial recognition impaired by kainic acid. In conclusion, kainic acid increases anxiety-like behaviours and impaired recognition memories during the early phase of epileptogenesis and curcumin was potentially improved anxiety and non-spatial recognition memory impaired by kainic acid. These benefits highlighted the potential effect of curcumin to improve psychiatric disorders in epilepsy.