The Effect of Low-Doses of Caffeine and Taurine on Convulsive Seizure Parameters in Rats.

Caffeine, an adenosine-receptor blocker, is believed to have neuronal excitatory effects, while Taurine, a mammalian amino acid, was shown to have neuroinhibitory effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of acute and chronic administration of low doses of Caffeine and Taurine on the seizure threshold in rats. Six-week-old Sprague-Dawley male rats (n = 280) were divided randomly into five groups (control, acute caffeine intake, acute taurine intake, chronic caffeine intake and chronic taurine intake), with five subgroups per group according to five different doses of Pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) injections.

Effects of enhanced environment and induced depression on cuprizone mouse model of demyelination.

Impairment in cognition and motor activity are commonly encountered in patients affected by multiple sclerosis (MS), and depression is believed to be a contributing factor. The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of induced depression on a cuprizone mouse model of demyelination and the effectiveness of enhanced environment (EE) as a method of intervention. C57BL/6 male mice were divided into five groups: Cuprizone only (Cup-O), cuprizone undergoing depression (Cup-Dep), cuprizone housed in EE (Cup-EE), cuprizone housed in EE and undergoing depression (Cup-ED) and the control (n=9-10 per group).