The Anticonvulsant Activity of Thiamine, Vitamin D3, and Melatonin Combination on Pentylenetetrazole-Induced Seizures in Mice

Objective:

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder associated with the elevation of oxidative stress level and alteration of vitamins and endogenous antioxidants levels. Current study was designed to evaluate the effects of Vit D3, thiamine, melatonin, and their combination on pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-induced tonic clonic seizures in mice along with measuring the alteration of oxidative stress markers.

Methods:

Male mice were randomly divided into seven groups; group I received normal saline (0.5 ml, i.p.) on the 15th day, group II received PTZ (60 mg/kg, i.p) on the 15th day, groups III-VI received diazepam (4 mg/kg), Vit D3 (6000 IU/kg, p.o.), thiamine (200 mg/kg, p.o.) and melatonin (20 mg/kg, p.o.), respectively, before PTZ (60 mg/kg, i.p.) injection on the 15th day and group VII received combination of Vit D3, thiamine and melatonin, before PTZ injection on the 15th day. After PTZ injection, the seizure latency and duration were measured. The malondialdehyde (MDA) level and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity were evaluated in mouse brains.

Results:

In the treatment group, the seizure latency was greater and the seizure duration was lower than PTZ group. These agents decreased the MDA level and increased SOD activity compared to the PTZ group. The combination of these agents was more effective than each alone to increase seizure latency and reduce seizure duration.

Conclusion:

The combination of Vit D3, thiamine, and melatonin could improve PTZ-induced seizures more effective than each one alone; this may be mediated by inhibiting oxidative stress and regulating various mechanisms involved in seizures.

Anti-Convulsive Effect of Thiamine and Melatonin Combination in Mice; Involvement of Oxidative Stress

BACKGROUND

Epilepsy, the second most frequent neurological disease, is a chronic disorder with a high lifetime prevalence. Therefore, various studies are needed to find new effective therapeutic agents to treat seizures or prevent its complications. In this study, we investigated the effects of thiamine, melatonin, and their combination on pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-induced tonic-clonic seizures in mice.

METHODS

Male mice were randomly divided into six groups, including control, seizure control, diazepam, melatonin, thiamine, and melatonin and thiamine combination groups. Drugs were given orally in drinking water for 14 days. On the 15th day, the seizure was induced (except the control group) by intraperitoneal injection of PTZ. In all groups, the time between the injection the start of the seizure (latency) and the length of the seizure attack (duration) were measured in a 30-minute period. After measuring the latency and duration in all groups, mice were killed by CO2 Box, and their brains were dissected to be analyzed for malondialdehyde (MDA) level as a marker of oxidative stress.

RESULTS

The seizure duration was significantly lower in the groups of melatonin, thiamine, and thiamine and melatonin combination compared to the seizure control group. The latency times in these groups were significantly greater than the seizure control group. Moreover, MDA concentrations were lower in these groups compared to the seizure control group.

CONCLUSION

Thiamine, melatonin and their combination can decrease the duration time of seizure and increase the latency period, which may result from inhibition of oxidative stress in the brain.

Therapeutic application of nutraceuticals in diabetic nephropathy: Current evidence and future implications

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common metabolic disease which may cause several complications, such as diabetic nephropathy (DN). The routine medical treatments used for DM are not effective enough and have many undesirable side effects. Moreover, the global increased prevalence of DM makes researchers try to explore potential complementary or alternative treatments. Nutraceuticals, as natural products with pharmaceutical agents, have a wide range of therapeutic properties in various pathologic conditions such as DN. However, the exact underlying mechanisms have not been fully understood. The purpose of this review is to summarize recent findings on the effect of nutraceuticals on DN.

Melatonin and morphine: potential beneficial effects of co-use

Morphine is a potent analgesic agent used to control acute or chronic pain. Chronic administration of morphine results in analgesic tolerance, hyperalgesia, and other side effects including dependence, addiction, respiratory depression, and constipation, which limit its clinical usage. Therefore, identifying the new analgesics with fewer side effects which could increase the effect of morphine and reduce its side effects is crucial. Melatonin, a multifunctional molecule produced in the body, is known to play an important role in pain regulation. The strong anti-inflammatory effect of melatonin is suggested to be involved in the attenuation of the pain associated with inflammation. Melatonin also increases the anti-nociceptive actions of opioids, such as morphine, and reverses their tolerance through regulating several cellular signaling pathways. In this review, published articles evaluating the effect of the co-consumption of melatonin and morphine in different conditions were investigated. Our results show that melatonin has pain-killing properties when administered alone or in combination with other anti-nociceptive drugs. Melatonin decreases morphine consumption in different pathologies. Furthermore, attenuation of morphine intake can be accompanied by reduction of morphine-associated side-effects, including physical dependence, morphine tolerance, and morphine-related hyperalgesia. Therefore, it is reasonable to believe that the combination of melatonin with morphine could reduce morphine-induced tolerance and hyperalgesia, which may result from anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of melatonin. Overall, we underscore that, to further ameliorate patients' life quality and control their pain in various pathological conditions, melatonin deserves to be used with morphine by anesthesiologists in clinical practice.

Comparative phenotypic characterization of human colostrum and breast milk-derived stem cells

There is a diverse population of stem cells in human breast milk that can be employed for therapeutic purposes as a reservoir of cells. The current study mainly aimed to determine the nature markers expressing on stem cells. For this aim, the expression of embryonic stem cell markers, as well as the expression of endothelial, mesenchymal, neural, and hematopoietic markers were evaluated by the flow cytometry analysis in fresh colostrum, breast milk, and cultured colostrum samples. The results showed that the embryonic (OCT4, SOX2, HLA-DR), hematopoietic (CD33, CD45, CD117), neural (CD133, Nestin), and mesenchymal (CD44, SCA1) stem cell markers present in colostrum had higher expression in comparison with their counterpart markers in fresh breast milk. The expression markers of stem cells in colostrum following a 2-week culture period were significantly increased compared with their counterpart markers in colostrum before the culture process. In the culture of breastmilk, cells were not observed adherent cells and colonies. Our findings form flow cytometry and cell culture suggest that the lactation stage could be one of the factors influencing the stem cell population and, consequently, the cultivation of breastmilk cells. The present study indicates that colostrum is a tremendous source of stem cells that could be applied in cell-based research.

Melatonin: new insights on its therapeutic properties in diabetic complications

Diabetes and diabetic complications are considered as leading causes of both morbidity and mortality in the world. Unfortunately, routine medical treatments used for affected patients possess undesirable side effects, including kidney and liver damages as well as gastrointestinal adverse reactions. Therefore, exploring the novel therapeutic strategies for diabetic patients is a crucial issue. It has been recently shown that melatonin, as main product of the pineal gland, despite its various pharmacological features including anticancer, anti-aging, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, exerts anti-diabetic properties through regulating various cellular mechanisms. The aim of the present review is to describe potential roles of melatonin in the treatment of diabetes and its complications.