Amlodipine potentiates the protective effect of zonisamide on pentylenetetrazol-induced kindling in mice

Background: Zonisamide (ZON) and amlodipine (AML) were studied in different experimental models of epilepsy individually. However, combination of ZON and AML has not been explored yet. Hence, this study was aimed to evaluate the combination therapy of ZON and AML on pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-induced kindling in mice. Materials and Methods: Swiss albino mice of either sex were randomly divided into five groups and each group containing 8 mice. Kindling was induced by PTZ (45 mg/kg/day on 8 th , 10 th and 12 th and 75 mg/kg/day on 14 th day). After treatment animals were observed for 30 min for behavioral analysis then animals were sacrificed and brain was taken out for biochemical analysis. Results: PTZ-significantly induced seizure was characterized by alteration in seizure score and latency as well as significantly increased in brain thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) levels and significantly decreased in reduced glutathione, catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD). Treatment with ZON and AML significantly (P < 0.05, P < 0.01 and P < 0.001) resorted seizure score, latency, TBARS, reduced glutathione, CAT and SOD near to normal compared with pentylentetrazol treated rats. Conclusion: This study provides experimental evidence that treatment with both ZON and AML attenuated seizure and oxidative stress in PTZ-induced kindling mice.