The potential role of
taurine on
epilepsy and acupuncture anti-convulsion was addressed in the present study.
Epilepsy was induced by micro-injection of
penicillin into hippocampus of Wistar rats.
Taurine was applied by intraperitioneal (i.p.) injection. Electro-acupuncture (EA) was performed on
acupoints of DU 20 "Bai Hui" and DU 16 "Feng Fu" along DU channel. Epileptic grades were evaluated by electro-encephalography (EEG) and behavior score. We featured the dose-response relationship between
taurine-treated
epilepsy and
epilepsy-only subjects, detected the effect of exogenous
taurine on
epilepsy and
acupuncture treatment, and investigated
taurine transporter immuno-activity in hippocampus using immunohistochemistry. It was found that: 1),
taurine had a significant
antiepileptic effect as applied at i.p. 20 mg/kg, 40mg/kg, 80mg/kg, especially at 40mg/kg in the rat model of
penicillin-induced seizure. Animals were improved by one to three Racine grades in behavior and in frequency and amplitude of EEG. 2), Exogenous
taurine enhanced the anti-convulsive effect of EA. Both behavior and EEG were improved in
taurine-treated rats. EA inhibited
epilepsy. Exogenous
taurine improved
epilepsy in a synergistic manner to EA. 3), EA increased the concentration of
taurine transporter in hippocampus by comparing EA-treated
epilepsy with normal control and
penicillin only, or EA-treated plus
taurine-treated
epilepsy with
taurine-treated only
epilepsy and
penicillin only. The resulting data suggested that
taurine may play an inhibitory role against
epilepsy as an inhibitory
amino acid in the central nervous system and EA may inhibit
epilepsy via upregulating the concentration of
taurine transporter to increase the release of
taurine.