title: Up-regulation of apelin in brain tissue of patients with epilepsy and an epileptic rat model.
abstract: Prolonged epileptic seizures or SE can cause neuronal cell death. However, the exact role of neuroprotectant against brain injury during epileptic seizure needs to be further elucidated. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of the apelin, a novel neuroprotective peptide, in brain tissues of the patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and experimental rats using immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence and Western blotting analysis and to discuss the possible role of apelin in TLE. Thirty temporal neocortical tissue samples from the patients with drug-refractory TLE underwent surgical therapy and nine histologically normal temporal lobes tissues as controls were used in our study. Fifty-six Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into seven groups, including one control group and six groups with epilepsy induced by lithium-pilocarpine. Hippocampus and adjacent cortex were taken from the controls and epileptic rats at 1, 3, 7, 14, 30, and 60 days after onset of seizures. Apelin was mainly expressed in the neurons of TLE patients and controls, and was significantly increased in TLE patients compared with the controls. Apelin was also expressed in the neurons of experimental and control rats, it was gradually increased in the experimental rat post-seizure and reached a stable high level in chronic epileptic phase. Our results demonstrated that the increased expression of apelin in the brain may be involved in human TLE.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Neurology, 1st Youyi Road, Chongqing 400016, China.
authors.forename: Xiaogang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Chunlei
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Fenghua
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yali
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Qiong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Guojun
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xuefeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D000073861:Apelin; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008094:Lithium / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000473:pathology; D009474:Neurons / Q000473:pathology; D010862:Pilocarpine / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015854:Up-Regulation; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C115436:APLN protein, human; D000073861:Apelin; C498579:Apln protein, rat; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D010862:Pilocarpine; D008094:Lithium