Research ReportEffect of sparteine on status epilepticus induced in rats by pentylenetetrazole, pilocarpine and kainic acid

- Sparteine reduces mortality rate in pentylenetetrazole and pilocarpine models.
- Sparteine delays convulsive behavior onset in kainic acid model of status epilepticus.
- Sparteine decreases convulsive behavior in kainic acid model of status epilepticus.
- Sparteine reduces amplitude and frequency of discharge trains in convulsive models.
- Sparteine has anticonvulsive effect in models of status epilepticus.

The long-term effects of status epilepticus (SE) include severe clinical conditions that result in disorders of various organs and systems as well as neurological damage that could lead to death. Sparteine is a quinolizidine alkaloid synthesized from most Lupine species, and its anticonvulsive effect was evaluated in the pentylenetetrazole model of SE. However, efforts to clearly determine the anticonvulsive effect of sparteine have not been made previously. For this reason, we consider it important to study the anticonvulsant effects of sparteine at the level of behavior and EEG activity in three different SE models. The animals of the control groups, which received intraperitoneal pentylenetetrazole (90 mg/kg), kainic acid (9 mg/kg) or pilocarpine (370 mg/kg), exhibited convulsive behavior and epileptiform activity. After sparteine pretreatment (13 mg/kg, administered 30 min before the convulsive drug), the animals administered pentylenetetrazole and pilocarpine exhibited reduced mortality rates compared with the corresponding control groups, while the animals administered kainic acid exhibited a delayed onset of convulsive behavior and decreased seizure duration compared with the corresponding control group. In the three models of SE, a significant reduction in the amplitude and frequency of discharge trains was observed. These results support the anticonvulsant effect of low doses of sparteine and allow us to direct our efforts to other new anticonvulsant strategies for seizure treatment. However, it is necessary to perform more experiments to determine the precise mechanism through which sparteine produces an anticonvulsant effect at this concentration.