T. Halonen et al., VIGABATRIN PROTECTS AGAINST KAINIC ACID-INDUCED NEURONAL DAMAGE IN THE RAT HIPPOCAMPUS, Neuroscience letters, 195(1), 1995, pp. 13-16
We studied the neuroprotective effect of vigabatrin (gamma/-vinyl GABA
, VGB) in the rat hippocampus after status epilepticus (SE) induced by
kainic acid (KA). Rats were treated with VGB (500 or 1000 mg/kg, i.p.
) 24 h before KA injection (9 mg/kg, i.p.). The lower dose of VGB had
no effect on the generation or severity of convulsions. However, VGB d
ecreased neuronal damage in the CA3a (P < 0.05) and CA1 (P < 0.01) sub
fields of the hippocampus. The higher dose of VGB attenuated the sever
ity of convulsions (P < 0.05) but had no effect on the development or
generalization of convulsions. This finding may have clinical implicat
ions in the prevention of neuronal damage induced by drug refractory s
eizures or SE.