Evaluation of expression of oxytocinergic system in an experimental model of temporal lobe epilepsy

• Grant number: 11/18766-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: December 01, 2011
• End date: November 30, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Norberto Garcia Cairasco
• Grantee: Simone Saldanha Marroni
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (FMRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Some studies have shown the capacity of some hormones to modulate epileptic seizures, suggesting that activation of the oxytocinergic system might have an anticonvulsive action. Oxytocin (OT) is also associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which is common in patients with epilepsy. The complex association between epilepsy and psychiatric disorders, or comorbidities, is among the most frequent and important aspects of epileptology. Nevertheless, the association between TOC and epilepsy is unclear. The stimulation of cortical-limbic circuits is associated both with the onset of seizures and the emergence of compulsions, and it is possibly that occur a competition between these systems.The concept of "circuits antagonism" has been discussed in our laboratory and can be verified when "displaced" behaviors appear in stress situations or anxiety. The question discussed here is whether it is possible to modulate, through the activation of circuits that mediate these responses, others substrates in order to antagonize them. In this case, modulate, and even inhibit epileptogenicity circuits with circuits of compulsion. In this sense our hypothesis is that during the simultaneous expression of substrates associated with both hypergrooming and limbic seizures, occurs the "competition of systems". If our explanation for competition of systems is true, we might predict that activation of neural circuitry is associated to OT in Wistar rats that could interfere in behavioral and EEGraphic expression of limbic seizures. This indeed would decrease the rats response to electrical stimulation and restrict the development of the seizures.