Kocaeli University, Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Psychopharmacology Laboratory, 41380, Kocaeli, Umuttepe, Turkey.
Life Sci. 2012 Jan 30;90(5-6):185-9. doi: 10.1016/j.lfs.2011.11.003. Epub 2011 Nov 15.
The effect of an antiepileptic drug on cognitive function is of primary importance with respect to the patient's quality of life. Levetiracetam (LEV) is a novel antiepileptic drug used to treat epilepsy, but its effects on spatial and emotional learning and memory are not yet well understood. The goal of our study was to establish the effects of LEV (17 and 54 mg/kg, intraperitoneally (IP)) on spatial memory retrieval in the Morris water maze test and on acquisition and memory formation in the passive avoidance (PA) test in naive mice.
The subjects were adult male BALB/c mice. Spatial learning and memory was established with the Morris water maze (MWM) test. The 'time spent in escape platforms quadrant' and the 'distance to platform' analyses were measured using a video tracking system to determine spatial memory function. Emotional learning and memory were determined with a one-trial, step-through passive avoidance test.
In the MWM test, LEV (17 and 54 mg/kg) neither affected the time spent in the target quadrant nor altered the distance to platform. Moreover, LEV had no effect on swim speed. In the PA task, LEV (17 and 54 mg/kg) significantly prolonged retention latency.
Our results indicate that LEV did not alter spatial memory retrieval in the MWM test, but it did show some ameliorating effects on acquisition and memory formation in the PA test in naive mice.
抗癫痫药物对认知功能的影响是关乎患者生活质量的首要因素。左乙拉西坦（LEV）是一种新型抗癫痫药物，用于治疗癫痫，但它对空间和情感学习及记忆的影响尚未得到充分了解。本研究的目的是确定 LEV（腹腔内 17 和 54mg/kg）对 Morris 水迷宫测试中空间记忆检索以及对新小鼠被动回避（PA）测试中获得和记忆形成的影响。
实验对象为成年雄性 BALB/c 小鼠。使用 Morris 水迷宫（MWM）测试建立空间学习和记忆。通过视频跟踪系统测量“在逃避平台象限中花费的时间”和“到达平台的距离”分析，以确定空间记忆功能。使用单次、跨步式被动回避测试确定情感学习和记忆。
在 MWM 测试中，LEV（17 和 54mg/kg）既不影响在目标象限中花费的时间，也不改变到达平台的距离。此外，LEV 对游泳速度没有影响。在 PA 任务中，LEV（17 和 54mg/kg）显著延长了保留潜伏期。
我们的结果表明，LEV 并未改变 MWM 测试中的空间记忆检索，但在新小鼠的 PA 测试中，它对获得和记忆形成有一定的改善作用。
