The long-term effects of
status epilepticus (SE) include severe clinical conditions that result in disorders of various organs and systems as well as neurological damage that could lead to death.
Sparteine is a
quinolizidine alkaloid synthesized from most Lupine species, and its anticonvulsive effect was evaluated in the
pentylenetetrazole model of SE. However, efforts to clearly determine the anticonvulsive effect of
sparteine have not been made previously. For this reason, we consider it important to study the
anticonvulsant effects of
sparteine at the level of behavior and EEG activity in three different SE models. The animals of the control groups, which received intraperitoneal
pentylenetetrazole (90 mg/kg),
kainic acid (9 mg/kg) or
pilocarpine (370 mg/kg), exhibited convulsive behavior and epileptiform activity. After
sparteine pretreatment (13 mg/kg, administered 30 min before the convulsive
drug), the animals administered
pentylenetetrazole and
pilocarpine exhibited reduced mortality rates compared with the corresponding control groups, while the animals administered
kainic acid exhibited a delayed onset of convulsive behavior and decreased seizure duration compared with the corresponding control group. In the three models of SE, a significant reduction in the amplitude and frequency of discharge trains was observed. These results support the
anticonvulsant effect of low doses of
sparteine and allow us to direct our efforts to other new
anticonvulsant strategies for seizure treatment. However, it is necessary to perform more experiments to determine the precise mechanism through which
sparteine produces an
anticonvulsant effect at this concentration.