Metallothionein expression in the rat brain following KA and PTZ treatment

• MT is a protein involved in the metals homeostasis and scavengers of free radicals.
• Expression of MT in rat brain of experimental models of epilepsy was studied.
• Significant of increase levels of MT were observed on AK model of epilepsy.
• Slight increase of levels of MT was reported for first time on PTZ model of epilepsy.
• Results suggest that the increase of MT expression is related to oxidative stress.

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that has been associated with oxidative stress therefore epilepsy models have been develop such as kainic acid and pentylenetetrazol are usually used to understanding of the molecular mechanisms of this disease. We examined the metallothionein expression in rat brains of treated with kainic acid and pentylenetetrazol. Increase in metallothionein and nitrotirosyne immunoreactivity of both seizures epilepsy models was observed. Moreover, we show a significant increase on levels of MT expression. These results suggest that the increase of metallothionein expression is related with kainic acid and pentylenetetrazol treatments as response to damage mediated by oxidative stress.