Objective: 

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of GPSE on epileptiform activity in rats performing various duration exercise.

Methods: 

Totally 40 adult male Wistar rats weighing 180–220 g composed the material of this study after at least 1 week of acclimatization. Each animal group included eight rats. All animals were adapted to water before the beginning of the experiment. Swimming exercise was performed in two training glass tanks filled with tap water. Animals were swim-exercised for 90 days with 15, 30 and 60 minutes/day. In addition, 200 mg/kg GPSE was given by gavage once in two days for 90 days. Thereafter, the epileptiform activity was induced by a single microinjection of penicillin (500 units) into the left somatomotor cortex. GPSE (200 mg/kg) was administered intraperitoneally (i.p) 30 minutes after penicillin injection. The electrocorticography activity was continuously monitored on a four-channel recorder. Statistical comparisions were made using Sigmastat software.

Results: 

GPSE given short, moderate and long duration swimming exercising rats (for 90 days) decreased the mean frequency of penicillin-induced epileptiform activity in the 60,40 and 40 minutes after penicillin injection compared to control group, respectively.

Conclusions: 

The results of this study presented that short, moderate and long duration swimming exercise reduced penicilin-induced epileptiform activity in rats given 200 mg/kg GPSE for three months, indicating the GPSE application, which is a potent antioxidant, may provide a safer swimming exercise in epileptic patients.