Eugenol alleviates neuronal damage via inhibiting inflammatory process against pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus

Abstract

Neuroinflammation is one of the most common pathological outcomes in various neurological diseases. A growing body of evidence suggests that neuroinflammation plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of epileptic seizures. Eugenol is the major phytoconstituent of essential oils extracted from several plants and possesses protective and anticonvulsant properties. However, it remains unclear whether eugenol exerts an anti-inflammatory effect to protect against severe neuronal damage induced by epileptic seizures. In this study, we investigated the anti-inflammatory action of eugenol in an experimental epilepsy model of pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus (SE). To examine the protective effect of eugenol via anti-inflammatory mechanisms, eugenol (200 mg/kg) was administrated daily for three days after pilocarpine-induced SE onset. The anti-inflammatory action of eugenol was evaluated by examining the expression of reactive gliosis, pro-inflammatory cytokines, nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), and the nucleotide-binding domain leucine-rich repeat with a pyrin-domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome. Our results showed that eugenol reduced SE-induced apoptotic neuronal cell death, mitigated the activation of astrocytes and microglia, and attenuated the expression of interleukin-1β and tumor necrosis factor α in the hippocampus after SE onset. Furthermore, eugenol inhibited NF-κB activation and the formation of the NLRP3 inflammasome in the hippocampus after SE. These results suggest that eugenol is a potential phytoconstituent that suppresses the neuroinflammatory processes induced by epileptic seizures. Therefore, these findings provide evidence that eugenol has therapeutic potential for epileptic seizures.

Eugenol Mitigates γ-rays-induced Acute Renal Destructive Impacts in Rats

“…Furthermore, eugenol ameliorates silver nanoparticlesinduced nephrotoxicity (Aboelwafa et al, 2022) and hepatotoxicity in male rats, with parallel improvement of the histopathological alterations (Yousef et al, 2022). Moreover, it attenuates the neuro-inflammation outcomes in various neurological diseases (Zhu et al, 2023). The current results verified the mitigating roles of eugenol as an antioxidant phenolic agent, on γ-rays-induced acute renal destructive impacts, in line with the consideration that ROS are significant mediators of γ-rays-induced acute renal nephrotoxicity (El Bakary et al, 2022).…”

The NLRP3 Inflammasome in Neurodegenerative Disorders: Insights from Epileptic Models

“…It has been shown that eugenol, the primary phytoconstituent of essential oils, reduced apoptotic neuronal cell death induced by pilocarpine, mitigated both astrocytosis and microgliosis, attenuated the expression of IL-1β and TNFα, inhibited NF-κB activation, and the formation of the NLRP3 inflammasome following the onset of SE [176]. In a similar study, NLRP3 inflammasome components were activated upon lithium-pilocarpine induction in immature rats.…”

Eugenol-Rich Essential Oil from Pimenta dioica: In Vitro and In Vivo Potentialities against Leishmania amazonensis

“…In fact, the potential effect of eugenol against Plasmodium falciparum with an impact on cerebral malaria in an experimental murine model were recently reported [ 43 ]. In fact, accumulating studies have shown the beneficial effects of eugenol under various neuropathological conditions [ 44 ].…”