Baicalein improves cognitive deficits and hippocampus impairments in temporal lobe epilepsy rats.

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is a chronic neurological disorder that is a refractory disease. Baicalein possesses various pharmacological activities, including neuroprotection in neurodegenerative disease. However, whether baicalein is protective in the treatment of TLE is not determined. Therefore, the present study investigated the role of baicalein in the treatment of TLE. Baicalein was injected intraperitoneally to TLE rats for two weeks after the onset of spontaneous recurrent seizures (SRS). Rats were observed for the occurrence of SRS, and cognitive and hippocampus injuries were evaluated. Oxidative stress and inflammatory cytokines were measured. Corticosterone and its receptor, actin-associated protein F-actin and cofilin-1 were investigated in the brains of epileptic rats. Baicalein significantly improved cognition and reduced hippocampus damage and mossy fibre sprouting in TLE rats without obvious SRS suppression. Baicalein produced excellent anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects in TLE rats. Baicalein restored the disruption of the glucocorticoid signal pathway and actin-associated protein in TLE rats. These results suggest that the neuroprotective effects of baicalein on cognition and the hippocampus are associated with the suppression of oxidative stress and inflammation and the regulation of the glucocorticoid pathway and actin-associated protein in TLE rats. This evidence supports the use of baicalein as an adjuvant agent for epilepsy treatment.