Effect of gum arabic on behavior, sleep and gene expressions in an experimental epilepsy model induced by pentylenetrazole in rats

Epilepsy is a disease characterized by seizures. The post-treatment effect of Gum Arabic, which has high antioxidant capacity, was investigated in terms of behavioral parameters, oxidative and genetics in the PTZ-kindling animal model. 30 male Wistar Albino rats were used in the study. For the PTZ-kindling model, pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) (35 mg/kg) was administered i.p. at specific periods (days; 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24) was injected. Last dose i.p. was injected. (75 mg/kg). After each injection, seizure occurrence was monitored for 30 minutes and Racine scoring was performed. Afterwards, locomotor activity, immobilization, rearing, care, eating and drinking behaviors were recorded for 30 minutes with the LABORAS behavioral system. Gum Arabic was given to the treatment group via oral gavage at 2 mg/kg per day for 10 days. Afterwards, behaviors were recorded again and hippocampus was dissected. TAS and TOS measurements, EGR1 and Rev-erbα gene expressions and behaviors were analyzed. In the pre- and post-treatment evaluations of behavioral changes obtained from LABORAS, a normalization trend was observed in locomotor activity, immobility, rearing and grunting behaviors after treatment. Compared to the epilepsy group (PTZ), TAS level was found to be high and TOS level was low in the treatment group (PTZ + Gum Arabic). It was found that the oxidant capacity of the Gum Arabic group was lower than the epilepsy group and higher compared to the control and PBS groups. The oxidant capacity of the treatment group (PTZ +Gum Arabic) was found to be below the oxidant capacity levels in all groups (P<0.001). In gene expression analysis, EGR1 was upregulated in the epileptic group and downregulated in the treatment group. Rev-erbα was downregulated in the epileptic group and upregulated in the treatment group (P < 0.05). In comparative analyzes between groups, statistical significance was detected in the treatment group compared to the epilepsy group for both genes (P<0.05).