Anticonvulsant Effects Of Fuzi Total Alkaloid On Pentylenetetrazole-Induced Seizure In Mice

Epilepsy is one of the most common serious mental disorders affecting about50million people each year. In the past decade, antiepleptic drugs were rapidly developed. However, almost one-third of epileptic patients still remain refractory to medication, suggesting a need for better antiepileptic drugs.We investigated the anticonvulsant effect of acute Fuzi total alkaloid (FTA) in seizure induced by the GABAA-receptor antagonist pentylenetetrazole (PTZ). FTA significantly increased the seizure latency and decreased the mortality in PTZ-treated mice. Administration of PTZ increased c-Fos expression in the hippocampus, medial prefrontal cortex, and piriform cortex; and this PTZ-induced effect was inhibited by FTA in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, the effects of FTA on PTZ-induced seizure and c-Fos expression were reversed by the GABAA/benzodiazepine-selective antagonist flumazenil. These findings suggest that the anticonvulsant effects of FTA may be ralated to modulation of GABAA-benzodiazepine receptor complex.