OBJECTIVE:

To elucidatethe the protective effect of a Chinese herb Niuhuang Qingxin Powders(NQP) on experimental seizure induced by Pentetrazol.

MATERIALS AND METHOD:

32 Sprague-Dawley rats aged 21 days were randomly divided into 4 groups: saline control group, diazepam group(2.632 mg/kg), three incremental doses of NQP groups including low-(0.3 g/kg), moderate-(4 g/kg) and high dosage-(8 g/kg). Half an hour after administration of saline, diazepam and NQP by gavage, the seizure was produced by intraperitoneal injection of pentetrazol(70 mg/kg). Then onset latency, duration and level of seizure of each rat were assessed, and an in vivo EEG recording was conducted.

RESULTS:

Compared with saline control, administration of high-dose NQP significantly increased length of seizure latency(p=0.021). Low and moderate dosage NQP failed to show a significant difference in seizure latency compared with saline control(p=0.721, 0.547 respectively). Compared with saline control, administration of three doses of NQP decreased seizure duration significantly (p<0.05). Moderate, high-dosage NQP decreased seizure duration even more significantly compared with low dosage NQP(p=0.001, p<0.001 respectively). Moreover, administration of high-dose NQP decreased the average seizure level compared with saline control (p=0.02), while low and moderate dosage NSP groups failed to decrease the seizure level significantly compared with saline control (p=0.105，p=0.234 respectively). EEG recording showed that spike amplitudes and spike frequencies in high dosage NQP group rats were significantly lower than rats in saline control, the low, and the moderate dosage NQP groups.

CONCLUSION:

High-dose NQP exhibits a protective function on rats with pentetrazol induced seizure.