Involvement of Bax and Bcl2 in Neuroprotective Effect of Curcumin in Kainic Acid-Induced Model of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy in Male Rat

Temporal lobe epilepsy is associated with neuronal apoptosis. Curcumin has antioxidant and anticonvulsant activities, therefore this study was conducted to assess involvement of Bax and Bcl2 in protective effect of curcumin in epileptic rats.
28 rats were divided into sham, curcumin-pretreated sham, epileptic (kainate), and curcumin-pretreated epileptic groups. Experimental model of epilepsy was induced by intrahippocampal administration of kainic acid. Rats received curcumin at a dose of 100 mg/kg. Finally, Nissl staining and Bax and Bcl2 immunohistochemistry were conducted on hippocampal sections and data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and unpaired t-test. The p-value less than 0.05was considered statistically significant.
Induction of epilepsy was followed by a significant seizure and curcumin pretreatment significantly reduced seizure intensity (p Curcumin pretreatment exhibits anticonvulsant activity in epileptic rats. It also decreases the expression of pro-apoptotic protein Bax and significantly enhances the expression of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl2 and hence could reduce neuronal apoptosis.