Intranasal administration of human IL-6 increases the severity of chemically induced seizures in rats

Allan V. Kalueff*, Kai A. Lehtimaki, Aarne Ylinen, Jari Honkaniemi, Jukka Peltola

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

103 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Here we study the role of a pleiotropic pro-inflammatory cytokine, interleukin-6 (IL-6), in epilepsy. To examine this problem, we used human recombinant IL-6 applied intranasally (400 ng/40 μl) to rats 1 h before seizures induced by systemic injection of pentylenenetrazole (PTZ, 75 mg/kg). Overall, compared to the saline-treated control animals (n=11 in each group), IL-6-treated rats demonstrated elevated levels of IL-6 in the frontal lobe (measured by ELISA) and increased severity of PTZ-induced seizures (shorter latency, longer duration and higher mortality). Our findings show that IL-6 plays a pro-convulsant role in the brain and suggest that the IL-6 system may be a novel target for the development of anticonvulsant drugs.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)106-110
Number of pages5
JournalNeuroscience Letters
Volume365
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 Jul 2004
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Chemically induced seizures
  • Epilepsy
  • IL-6
  • Intranasal administration
  • Rat

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