Evaluation of Anticonvulsive Effect of Magnesium Oxide Nanoparticles in Comparison with Conventional MgO in Diabetic and Non-diabetic Male Mice.

Introduction: Some studies showed that magnesium has anticonvulsive effect in some animal models. Despite of the availability of well-studied anticonvulsant drugs, this evaluation was not carried on new kind of magnesium supplement, magnesium oxide nanoparticles (nMgO). According to the association between magnesium and convulsion and high prevalence of seizure and epilepsy in diabetics, this study was designed to evaluate the effect of nMgO compared to conventional MgO (cMgO) on strychnine-induced convulsion model in diabetic and non-diabetic mice.

Methods: Healthy male albino mice were divided into 10 groups. Diabetes mellitus was induced by streptozotocin in 5 groups. Conventional and nanoparticle MgO (5 and 10mg/kg) were administered to diabetic and non-diabetic mice, then strychnine were injected and onset of convulsions and time of death measured after strychnine administration.

Results: There were no significant differences between normal and diabetic groups in onset of convulsions and time of death. Pretreatment of cMgO did not have anticonvulsant effect in strychnine-induced convulsion in normal and diabetic mice. But nMgO significantly changed convulsion onset and death time after strychnine administration in normal and diabetic status (p < 0.05).

Discussion: According to our results, it seems that acute administration of nMgO may be important in prevention of convulsion and is more effective than its conventional form in showing anticonvulsive effect that probably is related to the physicochemical properties of nMgO, especially in diabetic subjects, a point that need further investigations.