Role of leptin in kainic acid-induced hippocampal injury of temporal lobe epilepsy in mice

Objective To study the association of leptin with the occurrence and development of temporal lobe epilepsy. Methods After injection of exogenous leptin, a normal dose of kainic acid (KA, 200 ng per mouse) were microinjected into the right hippocampus of C57BL/6J mice to induce temporal lobe epilepsy. Then, seizures were scored with the Racine scores,the hippocampal pathogenesis of mice on day 7 after the KA injection were observed, the expression level of Bax was measured by Western blot, the neuron loss of hippocampal Hilus was detected by Nissl staining, and the astrocyte activation and proliferation of hippocampal Hilus were tested by immunofluorescence method. Results Compared with KA-induced model, seizure scores increased by about 52%, the expression of Bax significantly increased by about 75%, the neuron loss significantly accelerated, and astrocyte was over activated in the KA-induced model combined with the exogenous leptin (10 mg/kg) pretreatment. Conclusion Leptin pretreatment aggravates the neuron apoptosis and pathogenesis induced by KA.