Comparison of anticonvulsant effects of carbamazepine (CBZ) and unilateral low-frequency electrical stimulation (LFS) during kindling CA1 hippocampal in adult male rats

Epilepsy is a chronic and multifactorial disease characterized by sudden and repeated seizures. Carbamazepine is the most common medicine for treating epilepsy. Today, the use of LFS as an alternative treatment is considered in patients resistant to drugs. Therefore, in this research, the effects of LFS and carbamazepine on epilepsy in dorsal hippocampus by using Kindling method on the seizure indices have been compared  in adult male rats.

In this study, 50 adult male rats were randomly divided into 5 groups: Kindle (KND), KLFS, MCK, CBZ20K and CBZ40K. Kindle's group received a daily stimulant of Kindling in a fast way, in the CA1 region of the dorsal hippocampus. In other groups, daily Kindling stimuli, similar to the Kindle group, were applied. In the Kindle + LFS (KLFS) group, LFS stimuli were immediately triggered after the kindling. In methylcellulose + kindling (MCK) group, before stimulation, the amount was 0.2ml solution of methylcellulose 0.5%  was given intraperitoneally. Drug + Kindling (CBZ20K and CBZ40K) groups received intraperitoneal carbamazepine 20mg / kg or 40mg / kg, respectively, before receiving kindling stimuli.

Findings from this study indicate that the use of LFS or carbamazepine significantly reduced the mean seizure severity, total seizure duration, and the duration of afterdischarge in the KLFS and CBZ40K groups compared to the KND group (p <0.05). The important point is that the effective dose of CBZ has a more reduced effect on seizure indices than LFS.

Regarding the results, it seems that, the effective dose of CBZ to be more effective than LFS  stimulation following the hippocampal kindling in reducing seizure indices.