IMR Press / JIN / Volume 22 / Issue 3 / DOI: 10.31083/j.jin2203075
Open Access Original Research
A Single High Dose of Flufenamic Acid in Rats does not Reduce the Damage Associated with the Rat Lithium-Pilocarpine Model of Status Epilepticus but Leads to Deleterious Outcomes
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1 Unidad de Cartografía Cerebral, Instituto Pluridisciplinar, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
2 Unidad de Cartografía Cerebral, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria, Hospital Clínico San Carlos (IdISSC), 28040 Madrid, Spain
3 Departamento de Farmacología, Farmacognosia y Botánica, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
4 Bioimagen Complutense (BIOIMAC), Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
5 Servicio de Medicina Nuclear, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria, Hospital Clínico San Carlos (IdISSC), 28040 Madrid, Spain
6 Departamento de Fisiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
*Correspondence: pbascuna@ucm.es (Pablo Bascuñana)
J. Integr. Neurosci. 2023, 22(3), 75; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.jin2203075
Submitted: 2 January 2023 | Revised: 13 February 2023 | Accepted: 15 February 2023 | Published: 16 May 2023
Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Background: Epilepsy is one of the most common neurologic diseases, and around 30% of all epilepsies, particularly the temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), are highly refractory to current pharmacological treatments. Abnormal synchronic neuronal activity, brain glucose metabolism alterations, neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation are features of epilepsy. Further, neuroinflammation has been shown to contribute to dysregulation of neuronal excitability and the progression of epileptogenesis. Flufenamic acid (FLU), a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, is also characterized by its wide properties as a dose-dependent ion channel modulator. In this context, in vitro studies have shown that it abolishes seizure-like events in neocortical slices stimulated with a gamma-aminobutyric acid A (GABAA) receptor blocker. However, little is known about its effects in animal models. Thus, our goal was to assess the efficacy and safety of a relatively high dose of FLU in the lithium-pilocarpine rat model of status epilepticus (SE). This animal model reproduces many behavioral and neurobiological features of TLE such as short-term brain hypometabolism, severe hippocampal neurodegeneration and inflammation reflected by a marked reactive astrogliosis. Methods: FLU (100 mg/kg, i.p.) was administered to adult male rats, 150 min before SE induced by pilocarpine. Three days after the SE, brain glucose metabolism was assessed by 2-deoxy-2-[18F]-fluoro-D-glucose ([18F]FDG) positron emission tomography (PET). Markers of hippocampal integrity, neurodegeneration and reactive astrogliosis were also evaluated. Results: FLU neither prevented the occurrence of the SE nor affected brain glucose hypometabolism as assessed by [18F]FDG PET. Regarding the neurohistochemical studies, FLU neither prevented neuronal damage nor hippocampal reactive astrogliosis. On the contrary, FLU increased the mortality rate and negatively affected body weight in the rats that survived the SE. Conclusions: Our results do not support an acute anticonvulsant effect of a single dose of FLU. Besides, FLU did not show short-term neuroprotective or anti-inflammatory effects in the rat lithium-pilocarpine model of SE. Moreover, at the dose administered, FLU resulted in deleterious effects.

Keywords
epilepsy
flufenamic acid
neuroinflammation
PET
epileptogenesis
FDG
Funding
PID2019-106968RB-100/Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
Figures
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