یوسف پناهی

Echinococcus granulosus is the causative agent of hydatid cysts, which are distributed worldwide. Nowadays, much research is being done to inactivate hydatid cyst protoscoleces. This study was conducted with the aim to compare the scolicidal effect of two chemical compounds 12 and 2 on hydatid cyst protoscoleces in vitro.

The scolicidal activity of two amini-hydrox-phenylcoumarin and amini-bromo-phenylcoumarin at concentrations of 1.2, 1.5, 1.10 and 1.100 after 15, 30 and 60 minutes of incubation was tested separately and each of the experiments was repeated three times. The viability of protoscoleces was checked with 0.1% eosin dye under a light microscope. Subsequently data were analyzed using GraphPad version 5 software and two-way repeated measures ANOVA and values  (P > 0.05) was considered a significant level.

The results of this study showed that the chemical compound amini-bromophenylcoumarin at a concentration of 1.10 destroyed 100% of protoscoleces after 60 minutes of exposure compared to the control group, but amini-hydroxophenyl-coumarin, at a concentration of 1.100 could destroy 98% of protoscolecia after 60 minutes of exposure.

The results of the present study showed that amini-bromophenylcoumarin had stronger protoscolicidal effects than amini-hydroxophenyl-coumarin. However, further studies and in vivo studies are needed to evaluate the efficacy of these chemical compounds.

 Epilepcy is a chronic neurological disease, and due to its complex mechanism, the current therapeutic drugs for it are not effective enough. It may have a non-neurological origin such as astrocytes and microglia.

This study aims to investigate the effect of cabergoline and levetiracetam (alone or combined) on the histological and stereological structure of the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum in rats with pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-induced seizure. 

 In this experimental study, samples were 30 female rats in five groups of control, seizure (PTZ-induced kindling), seizure+levetiracetam, seizure+cabergoline, seizure+levetiracetam+cabergoline. Levetiracetam and cabergoline were used at 50 and 0.05 mg/kg doses, respectively, and half of these doses were used in the seizure+levetiracetam+cabergoline group. After anesthesia, animals’ brain tissue was removed and after preparing tissue slices, the number of neurons and neuroglia was examined using stereology technique.

 In the cerebral cortex and in the molecular and granular layers of the cerebellum, the numbers of neurons and neuroglia in the treatment groups were not significantly different from those in the control group, but a significant decrease was observed in the CA1, CA2, and CA3 regions of the hippocampus in the seizure group compared to the control group. In dentate gyrus, the number of neurons in all treatment groups and the number of neuroglia in the seizure group showed a significant decrease compared to the control group. In the Purkinje layer of the cerebellum, there was no significant change in the number of neurons compared to that in the control group.

 The hippocampus is more involved in the occurrence of seizure activity than other parts of the brain. Neurons and neuroglia play an essential role in seizures, but more studies are needed for determining the relationship between the number of these cells and the use of cabergoline because their number decreases in different parts of the hippocampus following chronic seizures, where the relationship is different between dendrite gyrus and CA regions.

DMSO is a compound that is widely used to dissolve and deliver many water-insoluble compounds and has various biological effects on the central nervous system. So the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of dimethyl sulfoxide on experimental epileptic-like activities induced by intraperitoneal injection of pentylenetetrazole in adult male rats.

In this study, 20 adult male Wistar rats (200-250 g) were used in 4 groups. The control group (5 heads) received normal saline (200 µl) and the 3 groups (15 heads, 5 heads per subgroup) were treated with 10, 50 and 100% DMSO (200µl) intraperitoneally, respectively. After anesthesia with the combination of ketamine-xylazine (80+8 mg/kg) and surgery of the animal skull, the electrode was inserted into the skull layer in the CA1 hippocampal striatum layer and epileptic activities were induced by intraperitoneal injection of pentylenetetrazol (80 mg/kg) and epileptic activity was measured and evaluated in terms of number of spikes per unit time and their amplitude by eTrace software.

The results of the present study showed that injectable dimethyl sulfoxide has a dose-dependent effect on pentylenetetrazol-induced epileptiform activity in the hippocampus, so that the concentration of 10% reduced the desired activity significantly (p<0.05) compared to the control group. So, it has protective effect against pentylenetetrazol-induced epileptiform activity. While concentration of 100% dimethylsulfoxide significantly (p<0.05) increased pentylenetetrazol-induced epileptiform activity compared tocontrol group and had proconvulsant effect in seizure activity. However, 50% concentration of dimethyl sulfoxide had no significant effect on the activity.

Low concentrations of dimethylsulfoxide are likely to be used as novel drug solvents for different models of epilepsy to deliver the drug to the central nervous system, however further investigation and testing are needed.

Epilepsy is one of the chronic diseases of the central nervous system. Despite the many drugs used to treat it, their effectiveness is questionable. So the purpose of this study was to investigate the stimulatory and protective effect of ketamine on experimental - epileptic activity induced by intraperitoneal injection of pentylenetetrazole in adult male rats. In this study, 15 male rats (200-250 gr) were used and randomly divided to control groups (n=5) that received normal saline and two treatment groups that received ketamine 20 mg/kg (n=5) and the second group that received ketamine 50 mg/kg (n=5) intraperitoneally. After anesthesia with ketamine-xylasein combination and animal skull surgery, the intradermal electrodes were placed on the striatum pyramidal layer of CA1 region of the hippocampus and epileptiform activity was induced by intraperitoneal injection of pentylenetetrazole and was evaluated in terms of the number of spikes per unit of time and amplitude of them by eTrace software. The results of this study showed that ketamine intraperitoneal doses of 20 and 50 mg/kg had no significant effect on the epileptic activity induced by pentylenetetrazole. Intraperitoneal injection of ketamine 20 and 50 mg/kg has no significant effect on pentylenetrazole induced seizure activity and has no stimulatory and inhibitory effects in the desired activities in that doses.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the stimulatory and protective effects of Methylphenidate (MPD) on the experimental epilepsy induced by intraperitoneal injection of Pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) in adult male rats.
Methods & Materials: In this study, 15 male rats (weight, 200-250 gr) dividied into one control group (n=5) received normal saline and two treatment groups; the first group (n=5) received MPD with a dose of 2.5 mg/kg and the second group (n=5) received MPD with a dose of 5 mg/kg by gavage. After anesthesia with ketamine-xylazin combination and animal skull surgery, the recorded electrodes were inserted into the cranium in the stratum striatum layer of the CA1 region of the hippocampus, and epileptic activity was induced by intraperitoneal injection of PTZ (80 mg/kg) and the epileptiform activity was evaluated in terms of the number of spikes per time unit and their amplitudes by eTrace software.

This study with an ethics code of FVMT.REC.1397.67 was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at University of Tabriz. 

Oral MPD at 2.5 and 5 mg/kg doses increased the number of spikes up to 576 and 613, respectively, compared to the control group (330 spikes), which were statistically significant. Amplitude of PTZ-induced epileptic activity after treatment with 2.5 and 5 mg/kg MPD reached 1254 and 1085 respectively compared to control group (1051), which were not statistically significant.

The doses of oral MPD used in this study potentiate seizure activity. Therefore, the use of this drug in people with a background of seizure or suffering from some types of seizure should be cautious, and the evaluation of its effect in these patients need further studies.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of different concentrations of morphine and naloxone on epileptic activity in live brain slices taken from morphine-dependent and control infant mice.
Forty neonatal mice were randomly selected. To establish dependency, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32 mg / kg morphine was injected subcutaneously once daily (0.1 cc) for 5 consecutive days from day 14-18 after birth. On postnatal days 19-20, brain slices were prepared and cerebrospinal fluid was perfused with low magnesium to induce experimental- epiletform activity. The effects of 10, 100 and 1000 µM concentrations of morphine and 10 µM naloxone were investigated on epileptic activity. Chenges in the number as well as onset and amplitude of activities were considered as an indicator to determine the quantity of their effect.
The results showed that morphine 100 µM increased the activity while 10 and 1000 µM concentrations of morphine and 10 µM naloxone attenuated epileptic activity in both groups. Naloxone reduced pro-seizure effect of morphine, but anti-seizure effect of morphine couldnt restored by naloxone.
Morphine has a two-phase concentration-dependent effect on epileptic activity in the infant mice; so that low and high concentrations of morphine inhibit epileptic activity, but its moderate concentration potentiates the epileptic activity. Naloxone has an anti-seizure effect.