Anti Apoptotic Role of Bezafibrate in Pentylenetetrazole Induced Kindling Model in Rats - Abstract
Bezafibrate (BZ), an agonist of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARa), has been reported to raise the seizure threshold in various seizure models in rats. The role of apoptosis in the pathophysiology of epilepsy has been well established in the literature. The anti-apoptotic role of BZ in various neurological disease models has been documented in the published literature. This study was planned to evaluate the anti-apoptotic role of BZ in pentylenetetrazole (PTZ), induced kindling model in rats. Male Wistar rats (n=30) were divided into 4 groups as follows: vehicle control (1% DMSO), PTZ (30 mg/kg), sodium valproate (VPA, 200 mg/kg) and BZ (200 mg/kg). Animals were observed for seizure score and % kindling. Rat’s hippocampus was used to study neuronal damage and apoptotic parameters like DNA fragmentation and gene expression studies of bcl2 and bax. There were significant decrease in the seizure score, % animal kindled, and histopathological score in the BZ group as compared to PTZ group. Genomic DNA was near to normal in both VPA and BZ groups. The bcl-2 gene expression was increased in the BZ group as compared to PTZ group. The present study demonstrated the anti-apoptotic potential of BZ in PTZ induced kindling model in rats.