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: Epilepsy is one of the most common disorders of the central nervous system. Although epilepsy is common worldwide, however, approximately 80% of epileptic patients live in the developing countries or those with low-middle income. Up until the second decade of the 20th century, epilepsy was treated mostly by traditional remedies. Today, an-tiepileptic drugs are used as a general treatment instead to prevent and control epileptic seizures, however, patient access to these drugs is hindered due to the healthcare systems of their countries and a number of other reasons, such as cultural, socio-demographic, and financial poverty. In addition, approximately 30-40%of epileptic patients suffer from refractory epilepsy, additionally, AEDs have adverse side-effects that can lead to treatment failure or reduce the patient’s quality of life. Despite recent advances in the treatment of epilepsy, there is still a need for improving medical treatment with a par-ticular focus on efficacy, safety, and accessibility. Since herbal medicines have been used for many centuries around the world for treating epilepsy, it is, therefore, plausible that a rigorous study on herbal medicine and phytochemical compo-nents within plants of various species and origin, may lead to the discovery of novel AEDs. Nowadays, many medicinal plants used in different cultures and regions of world have been identified. Most phytochemical components of these plants have been identified and, in some cases, their targets located. Therefore, it is possible that new, effective, and ac-cessible anticonvulsants drugs can be obtained from medicinal plant.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of sirtinol, as an inhibitor of sirtuin NAD-dependent histone deacetylases, on myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury following early and late ischemia preconditioning (IPC). Rats underwent sustained ischemia and reperfusion (IR) alone or proceeded by early or late IPC. Sirtinol (S) was administered before IPC. Arrhythmias were evaluated based on the Lambeth model. Infarct size (IS) was measured using triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining. The transcription level of antioxidant-coding genes was assessed by real-time PCR. In early and late IPC groups, IS and the number of arrhythmia were significantly decreased (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01 vs IR, respectively). In S + early IPC, incidences of arrhythmia and IS were not different compared with the early IPC group. However, in S + late IPC the IS was different from the late IPC group (P < 0.05). In late IPC but not early IPC, transcription levels of catalase (P < 0.01) and Mn-SOD (P < 0.05) increased, although this upregulation was not significant in the S + late IPC group. Our results are consistent with the notion that different mechanisms are responsible for early and late IPC. In addition, sirtuin NAD-dependent histone deacetylases may be implicated in late IPC-induced cardioprotection.

Introduction: Epilepsy is one of the most common disorders of the brain, affecting at least 50 million persons worldwide. Despite a variety of current antiepileptic drugs, research for discovering new drugs with more efficacies and less side effects has been continued. Herbal medicine has various natural substances and proper context for this type of research. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Humulus lupulus (Hops) extract on seizure attacks in an experimental animal model. Materials and Methods: 40 male mice have been chosen randomly and divided into 5 groups; including control group, sham group, and three experimental groups. Treated mice received aqueous extract of Humulus lupulus via gavage at doses of 200, 400, and 600 mg/kg for 4 weeks. Thirty minutes after gavage with different doses of the herb or distilled water (sham mice), pentylenetetrazole (PTZ; 45mg/kg) was injected intraperitoneally. Animals immediately transferred to a special cage and the seizure behaviors were recorded by a camera during a 25 minutes period.Results: Data analysis indicated that the aqueous extract of Humulus lupulus had a significant inhibitory effect on PTZ-induced seizure. Treatment with Humulus lupulus significantly increased the latency of seizure onset, decreased the intensity of seizure, and seizure duration. Conclusion:The attained results showed that Hops extract has anticonvulsant effect on PTZ-induced seizure and may be useful for treatment of epilepsy.

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality today, which will surpass many infectious diseases in the coming years/ decades. Post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE) is one of the most common debilitating consequences of TBI. PTE is a secondary, acquired epilepsy that causes recurrent, spontaneous seizures more than a week after TBI. The extent of head injury in individuals who develop PTE is unknown; however, trauma is thought to account for 20% of symptomatic epilepsy worldwide. Understanding the mechanisms of epilepsy following TBI is crucial for the discovery of new anticonvulsant drugs for the treatment of PTE, as well as for improving the quality of life of patients with PTE. Objective: This review article explains the rationale for the usage of a chemical model to access new treatments for post-traumatic epilepsy. Results: There are multiple methods to control and manage PTE. The essential and available remedy for the management of epilepsy is the use of antiepileptic drugs. Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) decrease the frequency of seizures without affecting the disease's causality. Antiepileptic drugs are administrated for the prevention and treatment of PTE; however, 30% of epilepsy patients are drug-resistant, and AED side effects are significant in PTE patients. There are different types of animal models, such as the liquid percussion model, intracortical ferric chloride injection, and cortical subincision model, to study PTE and neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the development of epilepsy after head injury. However, these animal models do not easily mimic the pathological events occurring in epilepsy. Therefore, animal models of PTE are an inappropriate tool for screening new and putatively effective AEDs. Chemical kindling is the most common animal model used to study epilepsy. There is a strong similarity between the kindling model and different types of human epilepsy. Conclusion: Today, researchers use experimental animal models to evaluate new anticonvulsant drugs. The chemical kindling models, such as pentylenetetrazol, bicuculline, and picrotoxin-induced seizures, are important experimental models to analyze the impact of putative antiepileptic drugs.