Investigation of antiepileptic activity of Allium schoenoprasum L. extract in different models of experimental epilepsy

Epilepsy is a chronic clinical disorder that affects approximately 1% of the world population. Treatment is aimed to prevent seizure activity. Therefore, it is suggested that developing new treatment strategies that can intervene in epileptogenesis will make important contributions to epilepsy treatment. This thesis aimed to reveal the potential anti-epileptic effects of A. schoenoprasum l, known as chives, which is one of the recommendations of the famous medical doctor Avicenna to find new compounds and develop new treatment strategies accordingly. Two different epilepsy models were used to study the potential antiepileptic effects of A. schoenoprasum l. The first epilepsy model was induced by intracortical injection of 500 IU penicillin. The second epilepsy model was induced injecting pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) at the dose of 60 mg intraperitoneally (i.p.). In the penicillin model the animals were given Allium schoenoprasum l. extract (200 or 400 mg/kg i.p.) after penicillin was applied and electrocortical activity was recorded for 120 min. In the PTZ model the animals were given Allium schoenoprasum l. extract at doses of 200 or 400 mg/kg orally for 7 days, after which the PTZ was applied, and tonic-clonic seizures were video recorded. A. schoenoprasum l. did not significantly change either the spike frequency or amplitude in the penicillin epilepsy model. Although it did not change the seizure score in the PTZ epilepsy model it reduced the death rate and significantly decreased the tonic-clonic seizure duration. The result suggests that A. schoenoprasum l. may have antiepeileptic effects when applied chronically.