Identification of Potential Antiseizure Agents in using Zebrafish and Mouse Epilepsy Models.

The resin of the tree Flueck. (synonym: ; Burseraceae), also known as "frankincense", is a traditional remedy used for central nervous system disorders in East Africa. Here we report the evaluation of its antiseizure activity in zebrafish and mouse epilepsy models to identify novel antiseizure compounds. The resin was extracted by solvents of increasing polarity. The hexane extract demonstrated the strongest antiseizure activity and was therefore subjected to bioactivity-guided isolation, which leaded to the isolation of eight terpene derivatives. A new prenylbicyclogermacrene derivative () was isolated along with seven other compounds (, -). Among them, the triterpene β-boswellic acid () showed the strongest activity and reduced 90% of pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced seizures at 100 μg/mL. In parallel to , a commercial extract of was also evaluated and showed moderate bioactivity (45% reduction at 30 μg/mL). The extract of was subjected to targeted isolation of other boswellic acid derivatives (-), which were evaluated for antiseizure activity in comparison with . In the whole series, β-boswellic acid () was the most active (60% reduction at 200 μM), and its potency was also confirmed with its purchased standard (). Pure nanoparticles of and a commercially formulated extract of were tested in a PTZ-kindling mouse seizure model. This notably revealed that the administration reduced seizures by 50% in this mouse model, which was consistent with its detection and quantification in plasma and brain samples. This study and the preclinical evaluation performed indicate that β-boswellic acid, common to various species of , has some potential as an antiseizure agent.