The Effects of Cholinergic and Nitrergic Substances on Spike Amplitude in Penicillin-Induced Epilepsy

Abstract

The role of acetylcholine (ACh) and nitric oxide (NO) in epilepsy is already known. There is no study on the interactions between cholinergic and nitrergic systems in an epilepsy model. The aim of this study was to investigate the interaction between muscarinic cholinergic system and nitrergic system in the experimental model of penicillin epilepsy. Seventy adult male Wistar rats weighing 220±35 g were used in the experiments. The experimental groups consist of control (200 UI/1 μl penicillin), SNP (50 μg/5 μl), N ω-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME)(100 μg/5 μl), ACh (250 μg/5 μl), atropin (100 ng,), atropin+SNP (100 ng atropine and 10 min later 50 μg SNP), atropin +L-NAME (100 ng atropine sulphate and 100 μg/5 μl L-NAME,), L-NAME+ACh (100 μg/5 μl L-NAME and 10 min later 250 μg/5 μl ACh ), ACh+SNP (250 μg/5 μl ACh and 50 μg SNP) and Atropin+ACh groups. According to the this study, epileptiform activity started within 2-5 min following the intracortical injection of penicillin (200 UI/1 μl). When ACh and SNP were administered together, penicillin induced epileptiform activity and spike amplitudes were significantly suppressed from the 10th min onwards. Amplitudes of the spikes induced by penicillin were significantly reduced in ACh+SNP group while the other compounds related to muscarinic cholinergic and nitrergic systems did not affect it. It can be concluded that acetylcholine increases the epileptiform activity induced by penicillin when administered alone while the anticonvulsant effect is increased when it is administered together with NO donor SNP. © 2012 OMU.