Pre-gestational feeding of thymoquinone suppressed pentylenetetrazole-induced generalized seizure while potentiated focal seizure in rat offspring

Pre-gestational nutrition, before and during pregnancy, might play a key role in nervous system. This study aimed to investigate effect of pre-gestational administration of thymoquinone (TQ) on pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced seizure in rat offspring.

Thirty-two female Wistar rats were divided to four groups (n=8) as follows: 1-control (received one ml ethanol 25% by gavage for seven constitutive days), 2-TQ10, 3-TQ 40 and 4-TQ 80. The rats in the groups 2, 3 and 4 received 10, 40 and 80mg/kg TQ dissolved in one ml ethanol 25% by gavage for seven constitutive days, respectively. The day after finishing the TQ administration, each female rat was mated with a sexually experienced male rat. The pregnant rats were housed in groups of four per cage until the day 20 of gestation. Then, the rats were individually transferred to a separate cage and the same conditions were applied for all of them. After parturition, the pups were counted, weighed and culled to eight in each litter. On postnatal day 14 (P14) and P21, the pups were subjected to PTZ-induced seizure.

Latency of the first seizure decreased in the TQ40 and TQ80 groups and the duration of focal seizure increased both at P14 and P21. The progress of seizure stages and duration of tonic-clonic seizures were suppressed in TQ-treated rats.

Exposure to TQ before conception potentiates focal seizure while suppresses generalized PTZ-induced seizure in rat offspring. TQ significantly changed the PTZ-induced seizure pattern in favor of focal seizure.