Seyed Raheleh Ahmadian1*, Shahram Ghasemi2, Atefeh Akbari1 

  • Student Research Committee, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran
  • Nanochemistry Research Lab, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Mazandaran, Iran

 

Introduction: Epilepsy is considered one of the most common neurological disorders, and is characterized by recurrent and unpredicted epileptic seizures. Although numerous antiepileptic drugs have been designed in recent years, available therapies are in efficient for control of seizure attacks in around 30% of patients. Therefore, several approaches have emerged to design novel drugs for treatment of epileptic patients. Most recently, in order to overcome the side effects of existing chemical drugs, natural products with anti-inflammatory agents such as curcumin has been regarded to reduce the epilepsy symptoms. But its medical application has been hampered due to low water solubility. To improve the aqueous solubility of curcumin, it has been loaded on chitosan -alginate nanoparticles (NPs). In this study, the effect of curcumin NPs on memory improvement and glial activation was investigated in pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)- induced kindling model.

Method and material: Male NMRI mice have received the daily injection of curcumin NPs at dose of 12.5 or 25 mg/kg. All interventions were injected intraperitoneally (i.p), 10 days before PTZ administration and the injections were continued until 1 h before each PTZ injection. Spatial learning and memory was evaluated using Morris water maze test after the 7th PTZ injection. Animals have received 10 injections of PTZ and then, brain tissues were removed and immunostaining method was performed against NeuN and GFAP/Iba1 for assessment of neuronal density and glial activation respectively

Result:Behavioral results showed that curcumin NPs exhibit anticonvulsant activity and prevent cognitive impairment in fully kindled animals. The level of neuronal cell death and glial activation reduced in animals which have received curcumin NPs compared to those received free curcumin.

Conclusion: To conclude, these findings suggest that curcumin NPs effectively ameliorate memory impairment and attenuate the level of activated glial cells in a mice model of chronic epilepsy.

Keywords:Curcumin nanoparticles; Memory improvement; Anticonvulsant; Glial activation; Pentylenetetrazol