Rifampicin ameliorates Lithium-Pilocarpine-induced seizures, consequent hippocampal damage and memory deficit in rats: impact on oxidative, inflammatory and apoptotic machineries.

Rifampicin ameliorates Lithium-Pilocarpine-induced seizures, consequent hippocampal damage and memory deficit in rats: impact on oxidative, inflammatory and apoptotic machineries. Biochem Pharmacol. 2018 Sep 06;: Authors: Ali AE, Mahdy HM, Elsherbiny DM, Azab SS Abstract Epilepsy is one of the serious neurological sequelae of bacterial meningitis. Rifampicin, the well-known broad spectrum antibiotic, is clinically used for chemoprophylaxis of meningitis. Besides its antibiotic effects, rifampicin has been proven to be an effective neuroprotective candidate in various experimental models of neurological diseases. In addition, rifampicin was found to have promising antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic effects. Herein, we investigated the anticonvulsant effect of rifampicin at experimental meningitis dose (20mg/kg, i.p.) using lithium-pilocarpine model of status epilepticus (SE) in rats. Additionally, we studied the effect of rifampicin on seizure induced histopathological, neurochemical and behavioral abnormalities. Our study showed that rifampicin pretreatment attenuated seizure activity and the resulting hippocampal insults marked by hematoxylin and eosin. Markers of oxidative stress, neuroinflammation and apoptosis were evaluated, in the hippocampus, 24 hr after SE induction. We found that rifampicin pretreatment suppressed oxidative stress as indicated by normalized malondialdehyde and glutathione levels. Rifampicin pr...
Source: Biochemical Pharmacology - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Tags: Biochem Pharmacol Source Type: research