BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Epilepsy is one of the common diseases of the brain that about 30-40% of patients with epilepsy experience recurent attacks due to drug resistance. Recently, the beneficial effects of Ursodeoxycholic acid on brain disorders have been considered. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of Ursodeoxycholic acid(UDCA)on the Pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) induced kindling, and related learning and memory impairments on Morris water maze.
METHODS: This experimental study was done on 32 male Winstar rats divided into 4 groups. The first(n=7)and the second(n=9)groups have received three injections of 0.5 ml NaCl or 50 mg/kg of UDCA respectively and third(n=7) and fourth(n=9) groups have received fifteen injections of 0.5 ml NaCl or 50 mg/kg of UDCA respectively. All injections were given intraperitoneally(ip)(every 48 hours). In all groups, chemical kindling were started after third injections. Twenty-four hour after the last injection, spatial memory was investigated in the Morris water maze.
FINDING: Fifteen injections of UDCA significantly reduced the seizure stage from 3.5±0.17 to 3.08±0.11 and duration of stages five from 12.37±1.21 to 8.43±1.09 and increased time to reach the stage five seizures from 1021.65±72.07 to 1252.41±49.63 as compared to control group. However, three injections of UDCA have no effect on the kindling process. However, three time administration of UDCA significantly increased reference memory from 18.72±1.2 s to 26.11±1.8 s.
CONCLUSION: Ursodeoxycholic acid inhibits chemical kindling and improves kindling induced memory impairment.