Objectives: 

Epilepsy is a common and chronic neurologic disorder worldwide. It is well known that intracortically (i.c.) administered penicillin results epileptiform activity in laboratory animals. Statins are competitive inhibitors of HMG-CoA reductase, a rate controlling enzyme of the mavelonate pathway. In addition to their cholesterol-lowering and cardiovascular protective properties, several experimental and clinical studies have recently shown that statins have anti-inflammatory properties and exert a number of neuroprotective actions. In the present study, we used three statins; atorvastatin, rosuvastatin and simvastatin in order to compare and evaluate their effects on penicillin-induced epileptiform activity.

Materials: 

Twenty eight adult Sprague-Dawley male rats were divided into four groups as 1) Epilepsy (n=7), 2) Atorvastatin+epilepsy (n=7), 3) Simvastatin+epilepsy (n=7) and 4) Rosuvastatin+epilepsy (n=7). Rats were anaesthetized by 1,25g/kg i.p. urethane. Left side of the skull and dura mater were removed, and the animal was fixed on a stereotaxic instrument. Two Ag-AgCl ball electrodes were placed over the left somatomotor cortex (electrode coordinates: first electrode; 1,5 mm lateral to sagittal suture and 1mm anterior to bregma; second electrode; 1,5 mm lateral to sagittal suture 3 mm posterior to bregma), the common reference electrode was fixed on the pinna. Electrodes were connected to a digital data-acquisition system, and electrocorticograms were recorded. In order to induce an epileptic focus each animal received i.c. 500IU/2,5μl crystallized penicillin-G potassium. EEG was recorded for 2 hours.

Results: 

Our results have indicated that atorvastatin and rosuvastatin reduced spike frequency significantly compared to simvastatin and epilepsy induced animals F(3.22)= 4.203 p<0.05). In addition, all statins significantly decreased the spike amplitude F(3.22)= 4.232 p<0.05).

Conclusions: 

These preliminary findings suggest that statins may be effective in reducing epileptiform activity in adult male rats.