title: Adeno associated viral vector-mediated expression of somatostatin in rat hippocampus suppresses seizure development.
abstract: Somatostatin (SST) has been suggested to play an important role in maintaining hippocampal homeostasis by modulating excitatory neurotransmission. The putative anticonvulsant role for SST was tested in an electrical amygdala kindling model. SST was cloned into serotype 5 of the adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector and delivered bilaterally into the hippocampus of adult male Sprague Dawley rats that were subsequently electrically kindled. Behavioral severity and duration of kindled seizures was compared to uninjected and GFP-injected control rats. Results demonstrated that 70% of SST treated animals did not experience class IV or V seizures without affecting the threshold for individual stimulation-evoked seizures. This result was significantly different from control groups where 100% of animals reached class V seizures. No difference in the number of stimulations required to reach the first class I-III seizures was observed in the experimental cohort relative to age-matched controls. These preclinical results suggest a putative role for SST as an anticonvulsant therapeutic modality for epilepsy.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology, University of Florida, 1600 SW Archer Road, HD 403, P.O. Box 100296, Gainesville, FL 32610-0296, USA. rabiazafar@gmail.com
authors.forename: Rabia
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zafar
authors.forename: Michael Alan
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: Paul Richard
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Carney
mesh_terms: D000679:Amygdala; D000818:Animals; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000378:metabolism / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000229:Dependovirus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D005822:Genetic Vectors / Q000235:genetics; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism*; D007696:Kindling, Neurologic; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012640:Seizures / Q000150:complications / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013004:Somatostatin / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000927:Anticonvulsants; D013004:Somatostatin