Beneficial Effects of Probiotic Bifidobacterium longum in a Lithium–Pilocarpine Model of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy in Rats

Abstract

Epilepsy is a challenging brain disorder that is often difficult to treat with conventional therapies. The gut microbiota has been shown to play an important role in the development of neuropsychiatric disorders, including epilepsy. In this study, the effects of Bifidobacterium longum, a probiotic, on inflammation, neuronal degeneration, and behavior are evaluated in a lithium–pilocarpine model of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) induced in young adult rats. B. longum was administered orally at a dose of 109 CFU/rat for 30 days after pilocarpine injection. The results show that B. longum treatment has beneficial effects on the TLE-induced changes in anxiety levels, neuronal death in the amygdala, and body weight recovery. In addition, B. longum increased the expression of anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective genes, such as Il1rn and Pparg. However, the probiotic had little effect on TLE-induced astrogliosis and microgliosis and did not reduce neuronal death in the hippocampus and temporal cortex. The study suggests that B. longum may have a beneficial effect on TLE and may provide valuable insights into the role of gut bacteria in epileptogenesis. In addition, the results show that B. longum may be a promising drug for the comprehensive treatment of epilepsy.

Cognitive comorbidities in the rat pilocarpine model of epilepsy

“…Focusing on the advanced stages of epilepsy, particular differences were consistently reported in epileptic rats that showed a significantly diminished freezing time in contextual and tone fear conditioning in comparison to controls at 2 months after pilocarpine ( 52 ) or shortly after 2 months ( 53 ). Similarly, Zubareva et al ( 54 ) showed a contextual memory decline (decreased freezing time in the familiar cage compared to the controls) in pilocarpine rats 60–70 and 70–90 days after SE ( 55 ). Interestingly, Qiu et al ( 56 ) found that pilocarpine rats had most severely impaired fear declarative memory at 2 months after SE, but then improved at 4 months while still performing worse than controls in CFC cues.…”

Antiepileptogenic Effects of Anakinra, Lamotrigine and Their Combination in a Lithium–Pilocarpine Model of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy in Rats

“…We previously demonstrated that epileptogenesis in the lithium-pilocarpine model of temporal lobe epilepsy results in motor activity disorders, altered levels of anxiety, communicative behavior changes, and memory impairments in experimental rats [31]. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate whether the therapy utilized-particularly combination therapy with anakinra and lamotrigine-could prevent TLE rats from developing behavioral disorders.…”

Integrated Macrogenomics and Metabolomics Explore Alterations and Correlation between Gut Microbiota and Serum Metabolites in Adult Epileptic Patients: A Pilot Study

“…Recently, it has been found in deeper intestinal microscopic mechanisms that the GM metabolites mediate the bax gene to lower neuronal apoptosis via the cGAS/STING axis in epilepsy [18]. Numerous clinical and preclinical investigations have also demonstrated the potential of probiotics [19][20][21] and fecal microbiota transplantation [22] in ameliorating the GM dysbiosis and mitigating seizures through the augmentation of beneficial microbial populations. Briefly, these data all confirm that the GM may be engaged in the pathophysiological process of the occurrence and development of epilepsy.…”