title: The protective effect of a ketogenic diet on kainic acid-induced hippocampal cell death in the male ICR mice.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, Gyeongsang National University, 92 Chilam-dong, Chinju, 660-751, Kyungnam, South Korea.
authors.forename: Hae Sook
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Noh
authors.forename: Yoon Sook
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hee Po
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Ki Myung
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Dong Wook
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sang Soo
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Gyeong Jae
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Wan Sung
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Choi
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated; D007657:Ketone Bodies; C505407:CASP3 protein, human; C505409:Casp3 protein, mouse; D053148:Caspase 3; D020169:Caspases; D007608:Kainic Acid