A combination of NMDA and AMPA receptor antagonists retards granule cell dispersion and epileptogenesis in a model of acquired epilepsy

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 12191 - 19
• Main Authors: Schidlitzki, Alina, Twele, Friederike, Klee, Rebecca, Waltl, Inken, Römermann, Kerstin, Bröer, Sonja, Meller, Sebastian, Gerhauser, Ingo, Rankovic, Vladan, Li, Dandan, Brandt, Claudia, Bankstahl, Marion, Töllner, Kathrin, Löscher, Wolfgang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 22-09-2017; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 13; 13/51; 631/154/436; 631/378/1689; 64/60; Animals; Anticonvulsants - pharmacology; Anticonvulsants - therapeutic use; Brain injury; Clinical trials; Dentate gyrus; Dentate Gyrus - cytology; Dentate Gyrus - drug effects; Dentate Gyrus - pathology; Disease Models, Animal; Drug Administration Schedule; Drug dosages; Drug Therapy, Combination; EEG; Electroencephalography; Epilepsy; Epilepsy - chemically induced; Epilepsy - diagnosis; Epilepsy - drug therapy; Epilepsy - pathology; Glutamatergic transmission; Glutamic acid receptors (ionotropic); Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Kainic Acid - toxicity; Latent period; Male; Mice; Mortality; multidisciplinary; N-Methyl-D-aspartic acid receptors; Neurodegeneration; Neurons - drug effects; Neurons - pathology; Piperidines - pharmacology; Piperidines - therapeutic use; Quinoxalines - pharmacology; Quinoxalines - therapeutic use; Receptors, AMPA - antagonists & inhibitors; Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate - antagonists & inhibitors; Rodents; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Seizures; Time Factors; Treatment Outcome; α-Amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid; α-Amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid receptors
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-12368-6

Epilepsy may arise following acute brain insults, but no treatments exist that prevent epilepsy in patients at risk. Here we examined whether a combination of two glutamate receptor antagonists, NBQX and ifenprodil, acting at different receptor subtypes, exerts antiepileptogenic effects in the intrahippocampal kainate mouse model of epilepsy. These drugs were administered over 5 days following kainate. Spontaneous seizures were recorded by video/EEG at different intervals up to 3 months. Initial trials showed that drug treatment during the latent period led to higher mortality than treatment after onset of epilepsy, and further, that combined therapy with both drugs caused higher mortality at doses that appear safe when used singly. We therefore refined the combined-drug protocol, using lower doses. Two weeks after kainate, significantly less mice of the NBQX/ifenprodil group exhibited electroclinical seizures compared to vehicle controls, but this effect was lost at subsequent weeks. The disease modifying effect of the treatment was associated with a transient prevention of granule cell dispersion and less neuronal degeneration in the dentate hilus. These data substantiate the involvement of altered glutamatergic transmission in the early phase of epileptogenesis. Longer treatment with NBQX and ifenprodil may shed further light on the apparent temporal relationship between dentate gyrus reorganization and development of spontaneous seizures.