Curcumin-Loaded Nanoparticles Attenuate Cognitive Impairment and Astrocytes Activation in Chemical Kindling Model of Epilepsy

Epilepsy is one of the most common chronic neurological disorders whose prevalence is significantly. Many different pro-inflammatory factors normally present in small amounts with in the brain and increase after pathologic complications including during epileptic seizures that can act as transient and longterm pathologic factors. So, use of anti-inflammatory agents such as curcumin has been regarded to reduce theepilepsy symptoms. But its medical application has been hampered due to low water solubility. To improve the aqueous solubility of curcumin, it has been loaded on chitosan -alginate nanoparticles (NPs). In this study, the effect of curcumin NPs on memory improvement andglial activation was investigated in pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)- induced kindling model. Materials and Methods: Male NMRI mice have received the daily injection of curcumin NPs at dose of 12.5 or 25 mg/kg. All interventions were injected intraperitoneally (i.p), 10 days before PTZ administration and the injections were continued until 1 h before each PTZ injection. Spatial learning and memory was evaluated using Morriswater maze test after the 7th PTZ injection. Animals have received 10 injections of PTZ and then, brain tissues were removed and immunostaining method was performed against NeuN and GFAP/Iba1 for assessment of neuronal density and glial activation respectively.Results: Behavioral results showed that curcumin NPs exhibit anticonvulsant activity and prevent cognitive impairment in fully kindled animals. The level of neuronal cell death and glial activation reduced in animals which have received curcumin NPs compared to those received free curcumin. Conclusion: To conclude, these findings suggest that curcumin NPs effectively ameliorate memory impairment and attenuate the level of activated glial cells in a mice model of chronic epilepsy.