Lipid peroxidation and glutathione levels after cortical injection of ferric chloride in rats: effect of trimetazidine and deferoxamine

Intracortical injection of iron salts causes seizures. Oxidation of lipids in neural membranes by reactive oxygen species is involved in the mechanism responsible for iron-induced seizures as a model of posttraumatic epilepsy . In this study, we examined the effect of trimetazidine (TMZ) and deferoxa mine (DFO) on lipid peroxidation after cortical injection of 5 mu l of an a queous solution containing 100 mM of ferric chloride (FeCl3) in rats. Anima ls were divided into four groups (n=7 each) and treated as follows: group 1 , saline injection into the cortex (control group); group 2, iron injection into the cortex (injury group); group 3, iron injection into the cortex pl us TMZ; group 4, iron injection into the cortex plus DFO. The animals were killed 3 h after injections, and the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), a lip id peroxidation product, and reduced glutathione (GSH) were measured. A sig nificant elevation of MDA was observed in group 2 (P<0.05). MDA levels were found to be lower in both the TMZ-treated (P<0.05) and DFO-treated (P<0.05 ) groups than in the injury group. Tissue GSH levels were significantly dec reased in group 2 (P<0.05). GSH levels were increased in the TMZ-treated (P <0.05) and DFO-treated (P<0.05) groups compared to the injury group. The re sults of our study suggest that lipid peroxidation is a critical event in i ron-induced epilepsy and that treatment with TMZ and DFO is effective in pr eventing the formation of free radicals and reducing lipoperoxides in brain tissue.