Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Ursin Administration in Chemical Kindling Model of Epilepsy

Epilepsy is one of the most common chronic neurological disorders, which provoke progressive neuronal degeneration and memory impairment. In recent years, application of herbal compounds with anti-inflammatory properties, such as ursin has been introduced as usefulagent in reducing of the epilepsy symptoms. In this study, the effect of ursin application on spatial memory improvement, neuronal density and astrocyte activation were evaluated in pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-induced kindling model. Male NMRI mice have received thedaily injection of ursin at dose of 25 and 50 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 usingMorris water maze test after the 11th PTZ injection. Animals have received 13 injections of PTZ and then,brain tissues were removed. Immunostaining against NeuN and GFAP respectively as mature neuronal and astrocyte markers were performed on brain sections.High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was performed to measure the ursin content in hippocampus. Our results showed that ursin administration reduced the seizures behavior and prevented cognitive impairment in fully kindled animals. The results of HPLC analysisshowed that high amount of ursin can be detected in hippocampus of ursin+PTZ receiving animals. Immunostaining data demonstrated that the level of neuronal loss and astrocyte activation were reduced in animals under treatment of ursin. Overall, the results of this study suggest that ursin administration effectively ameliorates memory impairment and alleviates the level of neuronal death and astrocyte activation in PTZinduced kindling model.