The protective effect of a ketogenic diet on kainic acid-induced hippocampal cell death in the male ICR mice.
This study was designed to evaluate the antiapoptotic effects of a ketogenic diet (KD) through histological (cresyl violet staining, TUNEL staining and immunohistochemistry) and behavioral studies using kainic acid (KA, 25mg/kg i.p.)-induced seizures in male ICR mice. KA-induced seizure in rodents is widely used as an experimental model for human temporal lobe epilepsy because of their behavioral and pathological similarities. A KA-induced seizure causes neuronal damage in hippocampal pyramidal neurons and involves a caspase-3-mediated apoptotic pathway. In this study, the seizure onset time of the KD-fed group was delayed compared to that of the group fed a normal diet (ND) after a systemic KA injection. Histological studies revealed that KA caused pyknosis in most of the hippocampal areas in the ND-fed group, however, well-preserved pyramidal neurons were detected in the hippocampus of mice that had been on KD for 1 month, which began on postnatal day 21. The number of TUNEL-positive cells and caspase-3-positive cells in the hippocampus of the KD-fed group was lower than that of the ND-fed group. These findings indicate that KD has an antiepileptic effect via a neuroprotective action that involves the inhibition of caspase-3-mediated apoptosis of hippocampal neurons.
Noh
Hae Sook
HS
Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, Gyeongsang National University, 92 Chilam-dong, Chinju, 660-751, Kyungnam, South Korea.
Kim
Yoon Sook
YS
Lee
Hee Po
HP
Chung
Ki Myung
KM
Kim
Dong Wook
DW
Kang
Sang Soo
SS
Cho
Gyeong Jae
GJ
Choi
Wan Sung
WS
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D053148:Caspase 3; D020169:Caspases / Q000096:biosynthesis; D016923:Cell Death / Q000187:drug effects; D004032:Diet; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated / Q000494:pharmacology; D006262:Health; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D007608:Kainic Acid / Q000633:toxicity*; D007657:Ketone Bodies / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012640:Seizures / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000503:physiopathology; D015430:Weight Gain / Q000187:drug effects
D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated; D007657:Ketone Bodies; C505407:CASP3 protein, human; C505409:Casp3 protein, mouse; D053148:Caspase 3; D020169:Caspases; D007608:Kainic Acid