An alkaloid extract obtained from Huperzia saururus induces neuroprotection after Status Epilepticus.

MONTROULL, LAURA ESTER; DANELON, VÍCTOR; VALLEJO, MARIANA; AGNESE, A MARIEL; ORTEGA, MA. GABRIELA; MASCÓ, DANIEL HUGO

Huerta Grande, Córdoba

Congreso; XXVIII Congreso Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias & Reunión Satélite/Neurobiología del Comportamiento: Neuroetología y Neurobiología de la Memoria en el Cono Sur; 2013

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias

Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder that affects 1-2% of people in the world. In animals, prolonged seizures induced by pilocarpine pre-treated with lithium leads to a condition called Status Epilepticus (SE), and result in both apoptotic and necrotic cell death. Huperzia saururus is commonly known as ?cola de quirquincho? in Argentinean folk medicine. It has been demonstrated that a purified alkaloid extract (AE) obtained from this specie has an extended ethnomedical use mainly as aphrodisiac, but moreover, it is believed to improve memory retention and hippocampal synaptic plasticity. Given these functions we asked whether the AE was able to protect neurons after SE. To test this we administrated unilaterally the AE in the CA1 region of hippocampus immediately after SE. Animals were sacrificed 24h later and the neuronal damage was assessed by FJB. We found that the infusion of the AE immediately after SE induced a remarkable decreased in CA1 hippocampal neuronal death. Interestingly, we also found an important decrease in the number of FJB positive cells in the Entorhinal Cortex as compared with the contralateral. In contrast, no difference was observed in neuronal injury in the hilus of the dentate gyrus. These results suggest that AE has neuroprotective properties and could serve as a good potential use for several neurological disorders in which there are neuronal death and memory impairment.