International Journal of Medical Laboratory

Background and Aims: Kindling is regarded as an experimental model of temporal lobe epilepsy that reflects a process of progressive and persistent intensification of seizure. Experimental and clinical evidence suggest that there is an interrelationship among epileptogenesis, local inflammation and antioxidant activity. In this study, the possible antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of thymol was investigated in epileptic rats.

Materials and Methods: Kindling was induced by repeated injections of intraperitoneal pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) every other day. Then, the rat hippocampi were isolated, weighed and prepared as a 5% tissue homogenate in ice-cold 0.9% saline solution. Serum malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels were assessed by thiobarbituric acid reacting substance and nitroblue tetrazolium methods respectively. Hyppocampal tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) were evaluated using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method.

Results: As the study findings revealed, epileptic seizures increase the serum level of MDA, hyppocampal levels of TNF-α as well as IL-1β and decrease the SOD activity.

Conclusions: thymol exerts anticonvulsant activity through the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory mechanisms.