title: Study of anticonvulsant effect of citronellol, a monoterpene alcohol, in rodents.
abstract: Citronellol is one monoterpene alcohol, which is present in the essential oils of various aromatic plant species. This study evaluated the neuroprotective activity of citronellol on pentylenetetrazol- and picrotoxin-induced convulsions and maximal electroshock-induced seizures in mice. Administration of citronellol significantly reduced the number of animals of convulsion induced by pentylenetetrazol and eliminated the extensor reflex of maximal electroshock-induced seizures test in about 80% of the experimental animals. In addition, administration of citronellol showed protection in the pentylenetetrazol and picrotoxin tests by increasing the latency of clonic seizures. We also investigated the effect of citronellol in the rat isolated nerve using the single sucrose-gap technique. We showed that the amplitude of the compound action potential decreased more than 90% when the monoterpene was incubated for 30 min at 6.4 mM and we did not verify any effect on the repolarization of the compound action potential. Taken together, our results demonstrated an anticonvulsant activity of the citronellol that could be, at least in part, explained by the diminution of the action potential amplitude.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Tecnologia Farmacêutica, Universidade Federal da Paraíba (LTF/UFPB), 58051-900, João Pessoa, PB, Brazil.
authors.forename: Damião Pergentino
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: de Sousa
authors.forename: Juan Carlos Ramos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Gonçalves
authors.forename: Lucindo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Quintans-Júnior
authors.forename: Jader Santos
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Cruz
authors.forename: Demétrius Antonio Machado
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Araújo
authors.forename: Reinaldo Nóbrega
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: de Almeida
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000187:drug effects; D000080462:Acyclic Monoterpenes; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004347:Drug Interactions; D004597:Electroshock / Q000009:adverse effects; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D039821:Monoterpenes / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009431:Neural Conduction / Q000187:drug effects; D010433:Pentylenetetrazole / Q000633:toxicity; D010852:Picrotoxin / Q000633:toxicity; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects; D012640:Seizures / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000080462:Acyclic Monoterpenes; D000927:Anticonvulsants; D039821:Monoterpenes; D010433:Pentylenetetrazole; D010852:Picrotoxin; C007078:citronellol