Behavioural and histopathological assessment of the effects of periodic fasting on pentylenetetrazol-induced seizures in rats

Abstract

These results support the idea that a PF-diet has anticonvulsive and neuroprotective effects on epileptic rats but underlines that different PF-diet protocols can have varying effects. Anticonvulsive effects were strongest when the PF-diet started before the onset of excitotoxic injuries, the number of dark neurons was decreased and apoptosis was prevented by all PF-diet protocols investigated in this work. Further evaluation of PF-diet protocols for possible clinical anticonvulsant and neuroprotective effects is suggested.

SIRT3 mediates hippocampal synaptic adaptations to intermittent fasting and ameliorates deficits in APP mutant mice

“…It was previously reported that hippocampal neurons of rats or mice adapted to IF are resistant to seizure-induced damage in an epilepsy model 21 . Subsequent studies confirmed that IF constrains neuronal excitability in the hippocampus 43,44 , and can also protect neurons in other brain regions against metabolic and excitotoxic stress in rodent models of stroke 45,46 , Parkinson’s disease 47 and Huntington’s disease 48 . Mechanisms underlying the neuroprotective effect of IF may include up-regulation of expression of neurotrophic factors and antioxidant defenses, and suppression of inflammation 1,23 .…”

Ultrastructural changes to rat hippocampus in pentylenetetrazol- and kainic acid-induced status epilepticus: A study using electron microscopy

“…Apoptotic degeneration and the activation of caspases-3 in the case of maternal epileptic seizure induced by PTZ were described in the hippocampus of prenatal rat brain (Nazeer et al 2009). Apoptosis is also expressed in developing brain (Yis et al 2013) or adult brain some months after PTZ-induced SE (Karimzadeh et al 2013). Based on our data, we suggest, that one of the effects of PTZ-induced SE could be both, necrosis and apoptosis of hippocampal cells.…”

Protective Effect of a cAMP Analogue on Behavioral Deficits and Neuropathological Changes in Cuprizone Model of Demyelination

“…Morphological features of apoptosis contain nucleus fragmentation, condensed nuclear chromatin, and cytoplasm with cell budding and plasma membrane eversion [22,26]. According to TUNEL assay, after 5 weeks of cuprizone diet, the mean number of TUNEL-positive cells significantly increased compared to control mice.…”