The Effect of Flunarizine on Penicillin Model Epilepsy in Rats

Abstract

Epilepsy is one of the most important neurological diseases. Calcium ions have an important role on the regulation of cellular functions. It is accepted that calcium flux into the cell is the first step of epileptic neuronal events. In present study, the effect of flunarizine on experimental model epilepsy induced by intracortical (i.c.) penicillin administration was investigated. The left cerebral cortex was exposed by craniotomy in anaesthetised rats. The epileptic focus was produced by injection of penicillin G potassium (500 units) into the somatomotor cortex. Following the epileptiform activity reached maximum frequency and amplitude, flunarizine was injected into the same area by Hamilton mikroinjector. Before flunarizine administration, the average frequency of spikes was 21.1 ± 1.9/min and the average amplitude of spikes was 1080 ± 65 μV. Microinjection of flunarizine (10, 100 μM) into the same area caused an inhibition for 3-4 minutes in electrocorticograms (ECoG) (p < 0.001). But saline did not affect the epileptiform activity (p > 0.05). The results of this study suggest that flunarizine may be an anticonvulsant agent in treatment of epilepsy.