Abstracts

The epilepsies are a heterogeneous group of symptom complexes, whose common features is the recurrence of seizures (Brown [italic]et al.[/italic], 1993). It is known that epileptic activity induce many molecular and structural changes in the brain (Eid [italic]et al[/italic]., 2004). In order to evaluate these changes we aimed to investigate the consequences of a convulsant agent called pentylenetetrazol (PTZ). PTZ is a chemical frequently used in the study of epileptic seizures since it produces a reliable discriminative stimulus (De Boer et al. 1982; Bradford 1989; De Deyn and Macdonald 1989). The present study was focused to analyze the changes resulted from sub-consulvant and consulvant dose of PTZ on rat brain homogenate at molecular level by using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy., Experimental animals were divided into three groups as control (n=6), sub-convulsant (n=6) and convulsant (n=6). The treated groups were made epileptic by a single administration of sub-convulsant (25 mg/kg) and convulsant (60 mg/kg) dose of PTZ. Following PTZ administration, behavioral observations were carried out to determine epileptic activity for 30 min. Subsequently, in the FTIR spectra, the shift in peak positions, the change in bandwidths and the intensity/area values of the bands were determined and compared in between control and treated groups., The results revealed that the concentration of unsaturated lipids decreased for both treated samples. The lipid/protein ratio slightly increased for sub-convulsant group whereas this ratio decreased for convulsant group. An increase in the lipid order and a decrease in the fluidity of membrane were observed for low dose of PTZ[apos]s group. However, for high dose of PTZ[apos]s opposite effects on the order and fluidity were observed. In addition, the changes in hydrogen bonding capacity of head groups of membrane lipids as well as a decrease in the protein concentration caused by the administration of PTZ were obtained., Consequently, these results show that the early alteration at molecular level resulted from chemically induced epileptic activity can be detected by FTIR. Moreover, the molecular effects of unconvulsive and convulsive epileptic seizures can be compared by this method.

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De Boer T., [italic]et al[/italic]., Brain Res. (1982) 253: 153[ndash]160.
De Deyn P. P. and Macdonald R. L. Epilepsia (1989) 30: 17[ndash]25.
Eid et al., (2004) 3 , 77 Lancet Neurology 28-37.,