Abstracts

Rationale: Choline alfoscerate (α-GPC) is a natural choline compound found in the brain. α-GPC is used to enhance memory and cognition for stroke and Alzheimer's patients but currently remains untested in patients suffering from epilepsy. This study aimed to evaluate if α-GPC treatment after seizure can ameliorate seizure-induced cognitive impairment and neural injury.Methods: The potential therapeutic effects of α-GPC on seizure-induced cognitive impairment were tested in an animal model of pilocarpine-induced epilepsy. Seizure was induced by intraperitoneal (i.p) injection of pilocarpine (25 mg/kg) in adult male rats. α-GPC (250 mg/kg) was injected into the intramuscular (i.m) space three weeks after seizure onset for three weeks. To evaluate if treatment with α-GPC provides protection to hippocampal dependent cognitive ability following seizure we analyzed subject performance using a standard water maze test protocol and brain NeuN immunohistochemistry to determine hippocampal neuronal survival. All groups were sacrificed at 6 weeks post-seizure.Results: In the present study, we observed enhanced survival of hippocampal neurons and improved cognitive function in animals receiving α-GPC injection after pilocarpine-induced seizure..Conclusions: Therefore, choline alfoscerate (α-GPC) injection may serve as a beneficial treatment for improvement of cognitive function in epilepsy patients