Chemicals
Pentylenetetrazole,1,3-dipropyl-8-cyclopentylxanthine (DPCPX), caffeine and Diazepam were purchased from Sigma Aldrich (USA). Levetiracetam(obtained from Helix Pharmaceutical, Pakistan). All drugs were diluted in distilled water except DPCPX, which was dissolved in 5% DMSO. The test compounds were given intraperitoneally with dosing volume of about 10ml/kg of the body weight.
Animals
Male NMRI mice weighing between 18-22 g were used in this study. Animals were provided with food and water ad libitum. Experiments were performed in the day time and were conducted according to the institutional ethical guidelines and after getting approval from the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) (license number 2018-006).
Acute PTZ- induced seizure model
Animals (n = 8) were brought to the experimental room one hour prior to the start of the experiment. They were grouped as shown in table 1. Onset of first myoclonic jerk (FMJ), generalized clonic seizures (GCS) and percent mortality were recorded after the administration of PTZ 110 mg/kg.
PTZ-induced Kindling model of epileptogenesis.
Animals (n = 8) were grouped as shown in the table 2. The seizure scoring was recorded over a period of 30 minutes after the administration of PTZ45mg/kg on each alternate day. Scores were noted according to the Racine’s scale(Racine 1972) i.e. score 1 (mouth and facial twitching), score 2 (slight body jerks), score 3 (tonic seizures with tail erection), score 4 (tonic clonic seizure with posture on one side of the body) and score 5 (tonic clonic seizure with inability of the animal to maintain posture). Animals were considered kindled when 3 consecutive occasion of score 4/5 appeared in the animals of PTZ group. A total of 13 injections were required to kindle all the animals in PTZ-treated group. Twenty four hours after the completion of kindling, animals were anesthetized by administration of ketamine/xylazine cocktail. Cardiac perfusion was performed with 1x PBS. Animals were decapitated by guillotine apparatus. Brain was removed carefully; hippocampus and cortex were isolated and processed for the extraction of total RNA.
RNA Isolation
Isolation of RNA from hippocampus and cortex was done through trizol reagent. Approximately 30-40 mg of tissue was placed in 2 ml eppendorf tube, and 1 ml of trizol reagent was added. The collected tissue was homogenized by using homogenizer. For the isolation of RNA, 0.2ml of chloroform was added in each tube containing homogenized tissue in trizol. The content was incubated for 2-3 minutes at room temperature, and centrifuged for 12000g for duration of 15 minutes. After centrifugation, the upper aqueous layer containing RNA was isolated in the new RNase free tube, and 0.5 ml isopropanol was added for precipitation of RNA. Incubate for 10 minutes, and then centrifuged for 10 minutes at 12000 x g. A pellet of RNA will be settled down at the base of the tube. The supernatant was discarded carefully leaving the RNA pellet inside the tube. For the purification of RNA pellet, 1 ml of 75% ethanol was added to the tube and after brief vertex, centrifuged the tubes at 7500g for 5minutes. Remove the supernatant and air dry the RNA pellet inside the tube. Pellet was dissolved in 20-40µl nuclease free water.
Quantification of RNA
The total RNA in each sample was quantified with Nanodrop. First the reading was adjusted to zero by nuclease free water. Purity of the isolated RNA was investigated through the value of A260:A280 in nanodrop. If the value of this ratio falls within the range of 2±0.25 then the samples were found to be free from contamination. Samples were stored at -200C until used for the synthesis of cDNA.
cDNA synthesis
Following RNA isolation from brain tissue samples cDNA were synthesized from isolated RNA samples using cDNA synthesis kit (Invitrogen, cDNA Synthesis kit 1622). To an RNase free tube 1 µg of total RNA1, µl 10X reaction buffer with MgCl2, and 1µg DNase-1 were mixed and the final volume was made up with nuclease free water to 10 µl. The mixture was incubated at 37oC on water bath for a duration of 30 minutes. After incubation 1µl 50mM EDTA was added to the tube and incubated at 65oC for 5 minutes. To this mixture I µl of Oligo dT18 was added. The volume of this mixture became 12 µl. To this mixture the following reagents were added in the indicated order, 4 µl of 5X reaction buffer, 1µl Ribolock RNase inhibitor, 2 µl dNTP mixture and 1 µl reverse transcriptase were added. The final volume of the mixture in the tube became 20µl. Incubate for 60 minute at 42oC followed by 70oC for a duration of 5 minutes.
RT-qPCR reaction
RT-qPCR reactions were prepared in low profile PCR tubes. For amplification of the cDNA SYBRTM Green PCR Master Mix (ThemoFisherTM, UK) was used according to the protocol of the manufacturer. 1µl cDNA, 0.5 µl forward and 0.5 µl reverse primer, 3 µl DFW and 5 µl SYBR green mixture were added the tube in triplicate. Reactions were placed in the RT-qPCR machine. The protocol was set at 95oC (hotstart) for 10 minutes followed by 40 cycles of 95oC for 15s(denaturation), 60oC for 15s(annealing), and 72oC for 30s(extension) and melting curve analysis between65C to 95C (With 5s increment). After the completion of the PCR, data was exported to excel file and analyzed in Origin 8.5 statistical software.
Expression of Gene
Quantification of genes were done by using ΔΔCt method. Initially, the ΔCt values of the samples were calculated by subtracting the Cq value of GAPDH of the respective samples from Cq values of the samples. ΔCt value of all other groups were subtracted from the ΔCt value of the control group to obtain ΔΔCt values.
Statistical Analysis
Results obtained were presented as Mean ± SEM. Data were analyzed through One-Way ANOVA using OriginLab (version 8.5) statistical software. Where *, ** and *** represented P value < 0.05, < 0.01 and < 0.001 respectively.