The Anticonvulsant Activity and Cerebral Protection of Chronic Lithium Chloride via NMDA Receptor/Nitric Oxide and phospho-ERK.

The Anticonvulsant Activity and Cerebral Protection of Chronic Lithium Chloride via NMDA Receptor/Nitric Oxide and phospho-ERK. Brain Res Bull. 2017 Nov 01;: Authors: Jafari RM, Ghahremani MH, Rahimi N, Shadboorestan A, Rashidian A, Esmaeili J, Ejtemaei Mehr S, Dehpour AR Abstract The underlying mechanisms for the neuroprotective effects of lithium chloride in neurodegenerative diseases such as seizures remain unknown. In present study the downstream signaling pathway of phospho-ERK/NMDA receptors/nitric oxide has been studied. For this purpose, acute and chronic effect of lithium in seizure animal model and the interaction of NMDA receptor antagonist (MK-801) and neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) inhibitor (7-NI) with these neuroprotection has been studied. Acute lithium administration showed pro-convulsive properties in pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced seizure model while chronic treatment increased the seizure threshold significantly. The serum level of lithium in treated mice were 0.48 mEq/L corresponding the therapeutic range. Administration of 7-NI (30mg/kg, i.p.) and MK-801 (0.001mg/kg, i.p.) had no effect on seizure threshold, while co-administration of them before the sub-effective dose of lithium (4mg/kg, i.p.) increased the anticonvulsant effect of lithium significantly. Furthermore, acute injection of MK-801 (0.05mg/kg) or 7-NI (60mg/kg) and co-administration of them significantly suppressed the anticonvulsant effect ...
Source: Brain Research Bulletin - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Brain Res Bull Source Type: research