Abstracts

Nitric oxide (NO) is a short lived free radical with diverse functions as a biological messenger molecule, and has been implicated in numerous aspects of the physiology and pathology of the CNS including epilepsy.
NO can acts as anticonvulsant or proconvulsant depending on the experimental model and the pharmacological parameters used. There is little information about changes in NO levels in human epileptic brains.
Neurons containing nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-diaphorase (NADPH-d) synthesizes NO. The aim of this study is to investigate the anatomical distribution, morphology, optical density and cell sizes of NADPH-d neurons in the temporal cortex of patients with hippocampal sclerosis who underwent anterior temporal lobectomy for intractable temporal lobe seizures., Brain samples of 7 X 5 x 5 mm from temporal cortex were obtained from 7 patients was compared with 5 postmortem controls.
Samples were fixed and incubated at 37[ordm]C in 1mg/ml of B-NADPH and 0,2 mg/ml of nitroblue tetrazolio. NADPH d activity was measured as distribution of formazan deposits (endproduct of the histochemical reaction). Neuronal area and neuropil staining optical density was determined., Sprouting (dendritic arborization) and larger NADPH-d positive neurons, with an increase in staining intensity were found in epileptic[acute]s temporal cortex (p[lt]0.05)., The increased area and the observed morphological changes in NADPH-d reactive cells found in this study indicate plastic changes and suggest an up-regulation in NO system in the neocortex. These changes could contribute to abnormal cortical excitability however, could also be involved in adaptative neuroprotective function.,