Study on neuronal necrosis in hippocampus of kainic acid induced status epilepticus in rats and effect of Mg ~(2+)

Objective To observe the morphology of neuronal necrosis by kainic acid(KA) induced status epilepsy (SE) in rats, and to study the brain protective effect of Mg 2+.Methods 75 adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into KA group, Mg 2+ group and normal saline group. SE was induced with KA for 3 hours, and the rats in Mg 2+ group were intraperitoneal injected magnesium sulfate before being injected KA. 72 hours later the rats were killed. We had all rat brain sections and observe the morphology of neuronal necrosis with microscope and electron microscope.Results In KA group, seizure was induced 16.1±4.7 min after injection of KA, but seizure delayed to 25.4±6.2 min in Mg 2+ group. There was a significant difference between two groups (P0.05). Neuronal necrosis in hippocampus was found 72 hours later both in KA and Mg 2+ group. But neuronal damage was more slight in Mg 2+ group than in KA group.Conclusion Our results suggest that SE induced by KA results in neuronal necrosis in hippocampus, and Mg 2+ has protecting effects to the neurons of hippocampus as an exciting amino acid antagonism.