Avaliação antiepiléptica do peptídeo Neuropolybina no modelo crônico de Epilepsia do Lobo Temporal induzido por pilocarpina em camundongos

Gomes, FMMG. Antiepileptic evaluation of the peptide Neuropolybin in the chronic model of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy induced by pilocarpine in mice. Master dissertation – Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Animal, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade de Brasília, 2016. Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE) is the most prevalent subtype of Epilepsy in adults and its clinical relevance is due to the gravity and the high percentage of patients resistant to antiepileptic drugs currently available. Thus, there is a need to seek new pharmacological therapies able to efficiently control this disease, as well as a better understanding of the changes caused by the abnormal functioning of neuronal structures during Epilepsy. In this aspect, venomous arthropods represent an alternative source of evolutionary selected neuroactive compounds. The pharmacological potentiality of these molecules reinforce the interest on its action on the central nervous system, focused by this work. The Neuropharmacology Laboratory previous isolated Neuropolybin from the Polybia paulista wasp venom and this peptide has demonstrated an interesting antiepileptic activity on acute models of seizures. Furthermore, Neuropolybin has not presented side effects on spontaneous exploration and motor coordination of the animals tested. Therefore, the aim was to evaluate the antiepileptic effectiveness of the peptide Neuropolybin in mice submitted to a chronic model of status epilepticus (SE) induced by pilocarpine. This model has been used frequently and presents similarities with histopathological and behavioral findings in epileptic patients in just a few weeks, while the same changes take years to manifest in patients. The Ethical Committee on Use of Animals (CEUA/UnB) approved all procedures. Swiss mice received an i.p. injection of pilocarpine and after 10 minutes, they manifested signs of SE for three hours (acute period of the model). Fifteen days after SE (latent period), a stereotaxic procedure was perfomed to implant a guide cannula in the lateral ventricle and eight deep and cortical electrodes. After 15 days, already during the spontaneous recurrent seizures (SRS), treatment was carried out during five consecutive days by i.c.v. injections with vehicle solution, Neuropolybin (0.5 and 2.5 nmol) or Diazepam (4 mg.kg -1 ). During this period, behavioral, SRS and epileptiform activity were monitored by video recording and electroencephalography. After the period of treatment, the animals were euthanized and morphological changes were evaluated by histological (Nissl stain for neurons) and immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence (GFAP stain for astrocytes and DAPI stain for cells nuclei) techniques. There was a reduction in SRS duration with Neuropolybin treatment. The number of viable neurons in CA1 and CA3 regions of the hippocampus formation of treated mice was significantly different from that of epileptic mice after the treatment. The presence of astrocytes did not increase when compared to healthy animals, suggesting that the peptide minimized neuronal loss induced by SE. Neuropolybin thus exerts a promising antiepileptic effect and provides a therapeutic potential on this model of TLE. Nevertheless, the peptide may also be used as a tool in neuroscience research and as a framework in the design of novel drug agents for epilepsy treatment.