Gangliosides improve a memory deficit in pentylenetetrazol-kindled rats.

Epileptic patients often show impairments in a number of cognitive functions. Kindling is considered to be a useful experimental model for human epilepsy. Recently we have demonstrated a learning impairment in a shuttle box experiment in pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-kindled rats. This model offers the possibility to investigate the relation between repeated convulsions and their consequences on learning and on the other side to test the effectiveness of substances on both processes. Although systemic application of gangliosides has neither an effect on the development of seizures induced by repeated injections of PTZ, nor on seizures induced by PTZ in kindled animals, the treatment protects against the memory-impairing effect of convulsions. These findings suggest a new useful strategy in the therapy of epileptic patients with the aim of diminishing the psychosocial problems in persons with seizure disorders: a combination of the anticonvulsive basic therapy and gangliosides.