Expression ofmicrotubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 following recurrent neonatal seizures inhippocampus

：Objective To explore therepetitive expressions of autophagy marker protein-rnicrotubule-associ-ated protein 1light chain 3 (LC3) in hippocampus in newborn rats with recurrent seizure and theinfluence of 3-methyladeine (3-MA) on LC2 expressions. Method Seventy-two 6-day-old SDrats were randomly (random nam-ber) divided into the recurrent neonatal seizure group (RSgroup, n = 24), the 3-MA-treated seizure group (3-MA group, n = 24) and control group (n =24). Rats in RS group were subjected to 55 attacks of seizure induced by flurothyl in 9successive days from the 6th postnatal day (P6). In 3-MA group, 2 μL of 3-MA was injected every daytill seizure induced. Western blot analysis was used to determine LC3 protein level inhippocampus at different intervals of 1.5 h,3 h,6 h and 24 h after the last convulsion.The LC3 protein level was analyzed with Dunnett test after ANOVA. Results LC3 proteinlevels in RS group at the different intervals were significantly higher than those in thecontrol group and in 3-MA group (F =4.70,5.28,8.51 and 5.89, respectively, P 0.05). Conclusions The autophagy/lysosomalpathway is immediately activated after recurrent seizure evidenced by the elevatedexpressions of LC3 in hippocampus. The 3-MA is involved in the regulation of autophagy/lysosomal pathway by down-regulating the expressions of LC3. Key words: Seizure; neonatal ; LC-3; Western blot; Autophagy; 3-MA; Hippocampus; Rat