Changes in Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor Gene Expression in Rat Brain in a Lithium–Pilocarpine Model of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Abstract

Preventing epileptogenesis in people at risk is an unmet medical need. Metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) are promising targets for such therapy. However, drugs acting on mGluRs are not used in the clinic due to limited knowledge of the involvement of mGluRs in epileptogenesis. This study aimed to analyze the changes in gene expression of mGluR subtypes (1–5, 7, 8) in various rat brain regions in the latent and chronic phases of a lithium–pilocarpine model of epilepsy. For this study, multiplex test systems were selected and optimized to analyze mGluR gene expression using RT-qPCR. Region- and phase-specific changes in expression were revealed. During the latent phase, mGluR5 mRNA levels were increased in the dorsal and ventral hippocampus, and expression of group III genes was decreased in the hippocampus and temporal cortex, which could contribute to epileptogenesis. Most of the changes in expression detected in the latent stage were absent in the chronic stage, but mGluR8 mRNA production remained reduced in the hippocampus. Moreover, we found that gene expression of group II mGluRs was altered only in the chronic phase. The study deepened our understanding of the mechanisms of epileptogenesis and suggested that agonists of group III mGluRs are the most promising targets for preventing epilepsy.

Probiotics: Bridging the interplay of a healthy gut and psychoneurological well‐being

“…Indeed, there was a notable reduction in behaviors resembling depression and anxiety (Zhu et al, 2023). A study has been reported indicating that the probiotic strain B. longum 1714 exhibits the capacity to decrease stress levels and enhance memory in individuals who are in good health (Zubareva et al, 2023). The researchers conducted a study to assess the impact of L. rhamnosus HN001 on symptoms of anxiety and depression during the postpartum period in a sample of 423 pregnant women (BozziCionci et al, 2023).…”

Time- and Region-Specific Selection of Reference Genes in the Rat Brain in the Lithium–Pilocarpine Model of Acquired Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

“…Experiments were conducted on 7-week-old male Wistar rats (n = 69 rats, 37 in the control group and 32 in the pilocarpine-treated group) following the Animal Care and Use Committee rules of the Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry of RAS and the EU Directive 2010/63/EU for animal experimentation. The animals were used in our previous study and a detailed description of the lithium-pilocarpine model of temporal lobe epilepsy can be found there [16]. Briefly, rats premedicated with LiCl (1 day before, 127 mg/kg, i.p., Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA) and (−)-scopolamine methyl bromide (1 h before, 1 mg/kg, i.p., Sigma-Aldrich) were intermittently injected with pilocarpine (10 mg/kg with 30 min intervals, i.p.…”

“…An important issue in RT-qPCR mRNA expression analysis is the careful selection of appropriate reference genes for data normalization [7]. An inadequate normalization strategy may result in inaccurate calculations Biomedicines 2024, 12, 1100 2 of 16 and consequently erroneous results, and may even change the direction of the observed expression changes [8][9][10].…”

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

“…The LiCl-pilocarpine rat model of TLE was established, as previously described [60,103,104]. Briefly, the rats were injected intraperitoneally (ip) with 127 mg/kg LiCl (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA) 24 h before pilocarpine injection.…”