title: The effect of simvastatin on picrotoxin-induced seizure in mice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the effect of simvastatin on picrotoxin-induce seizures in mice in order to understand the impact of gabaergic system on neuronal cell death.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was held between July and September 2011, at the Karadeniz Technical University in Trabzon, Turkey. Balb/c mice weighting 20-40g were randomly selected and divided into five groups of six each. The first group was designated as control group; and the second as the picrotoxin (10mg/kg; intraperitoneal) alone group. The rest of the groups were administered simvastatin in dozes of 10, 20 and 40mg/kg respectively. Onset, number and duration of seizures, and death time were measured in mice for one hour. At the end of the study, the brain was removed from mice and normal and degenerative pyramidal neurons were counted in hippocampal CA1, CA2, CA3 region by light microscope. Using SPSS 17, Mann=Whitney U and Chi square and student-T tests were performed for statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Simvastatin (10mg/kg) significantly decreased the number and duration of picrotoxin-induced seizures in mice. In addition, Simvastatin (10, 20, and 40mg/kg) significantly reduced the total number of abnormal pyramidal cells in CA1 and CA3 hippocampal regions compared to the picrotoxin-alone group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The effect of simvastatin on picrotoxin-induced seizures may be the result of increase in gabaergic activity and decrease in glutamatergic activity. More studies are needed to validate these results.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Turkey. muratkesim@gmail.com
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kesim
authors.forename: Esin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yulug
authors.forename: Mine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kadioglu
authors.forename: Ilknur
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Erkoseoglu
authors.forename: Duygun Altintas
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Aykan
authors.forename: Nuri Ihsan
authors.initials: NI
authors.lastname: Kalyoncu
authors.forename: Ersin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yaris
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000187:drug effects; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D010852:Picrotoxin; D017966:Pyramidal Cells / Q000187:drug effects; D011897:Random Allocation; D012640:Seizures / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy*; D019821:Simvastatin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D010852:Picrotoxin; D019821:Simvastatin