title: Effect of low frequency stimulation on impaired spontaneous alternation behavior of kindled rats in Y-maze test.
abstract: Epileptic seizures are characterized with cognitive disorders. In this study we investigated the effect of electrical low frequency stimulation (LFS), as a potential anticonvulsant agent, on kindled seizure-induced cognitive impairments. Animals were kindled through electrical stimulation of hippocampal CA1 area in a semi-rapid manner (12 stimulations/day). One group of animals received LFS 4 times at 0.5, 6.5, 24 and 30h following the last kindling stimulation. Applied LFS was consisted of 4 packages at 5min intervals. Each package contained 200 monophasic square wave pulses of 0.1ms duration at 1Hz. The Y-maze test was performed in all animals to measure the spontaneous alternation behavior. Kindled animals showed significant impairment in spontaneous alternation behavior compared to the control group. Application of LFS improved the observed impairment in spontaneous alternation behavior in kindled animals, so that there was no significant difference between kindled+LFS and control group. The observed improving effect of LFS was accompanied with a significant increase in calcineurin gene expression within the hippocampal area. Therefore, it may be postulated that application of LFS in kindled animals, which resulted in increment of calcineurin gene expression, can improve the seizure-induced impairment in spontaneous alternation behavior in Y-maze test.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Samireh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghafouri
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Yaghoub
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fathollahi
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Javan
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shojaei
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Azam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Asgari
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: mirnajaf@modares.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Javad
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mirnajafi-Zadeh
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019703:Calcineurin / Q000378:metabolism; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D015870:Gene Expression; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007696:Kindling, Neurologic; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012640:Seizures / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy
chemical_list: D019703:Calcineurin
keywords: Calcineurin; Low-frequency stimulation; Seizure; Spontaneous alternation behavior; Y-maze test