Effect of Seizure During Pregnancy on Pentylenetetrazol-Induced Seizure-Like Behavior and Serum GDNF Levels in Adult Male Mice Offspring

Epilepsy is a neurodevelopmental disorder and prenatal factors exert a profound influence on the development of the nervous system in the offspring. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the effect of seizure during pregnancy on pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-induced seizure-like behavior in adult male mice offspring. After pregnancy, mice were classified as: i) naive group; ii) seizure group, induction of seizure between the fourteenth and nineteenth days of pregnancy by application of PTZ; iii) sham group, received normal saline intraperitoneally during the fourteenth and nineteenth days of pregnancy; and iv) control group, pregnant mice without injection during pregnancy. At postnatal day 95, serum glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) levels and seizure susceptibility to PTZ in male offspring of all groups were evaluated. The results showed that serum GDNF levels and seizure severity of offspring of mice in the seizure group were significantly higher than male offspring in the other group. The present findings showed that seizure during pregnancy may enhance seizure susceptibility in male offspring, possibly via increasing serum GDNF.