Evaluation of the protective effect of apelin-13 application in the rat head trauma and experimental epilepsy model by asymmetric approach

The aim of this study is to determine with electrophysiological, histochemical and immunohistochemical parameters whether the brain damage caused by mechanical head trauma and epilepsy animal model created using Pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) can be prevented by apelin-13 application and whether this damage will differ due to the asymmetrical distribution between the two cerebral hemispheres. In our study, the food reaching test was applied to Wistar rats to determine their paw preferences. After administering anesthetic drugs (10mg/kg xylazine and 75 mg/kg ketamine), mechanical head trauma was applied to the experimental animals in the head trauma group and epilepsy models were created with PTZ (70mg/kg) in the other group. The therapeutic effects of apelin-13 were investigated. Electroencephalogram (ECOG) recordings were taken from the right and left hemispheres. After sacrificing the animals, brain tissues were extracted and histological evaluations were performed. Staining procedures were carried out showing edema, bleeding, oxidative stress, apoptosis and neurodegenerative changes. The differences between the groups were statistically evaluated using the obtained electrophysiological, histochemical and immunohistochemical findings. The results showed that head trauma groups caused statistically significant changes in EEG analyses in the first three days of the electrophysiological parameters. Lateralization prediction was observed in the traumatic groups compared to the control group in the acute phase. The neuroprotective effect of apelin-13 was detected. In the chemical epilepsy groups, a significant decrease in seizure rates and levels was observed in the group treated with apelin-13, and histochemical analyses also supported these results. Clinical studies to be conducted for apelin-13 suggest a promising potential for traumatic brain injury (TBI) and epilepsy, which significantly impair the quality of life of patients. We believe that the addition of advanced analyses to the EEG analysis methods used is important for the evaluation of both TBI and epilepsy models.