Abstract:

Objective    To observe the effect of immunosuppressant tacrolimus (FK506) on neuronal apoptosis in the hippocampus, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) expression so as to provide a theoretical basis of cerebral protection after epilepsy. Methods    108 healthy adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into the epilepsy group, the tacrolimus group and the control group. The epilepsy group and the tacrolimus group were intraperitoneally injected with pilocarpine to establish status epilepitcus models.The tacrolimus guoup was pre-treated with tacrolimus 24h and 1h before pilocarpine injection, while the control group only received an injection of an equal amount of saline. The number of apoptotic cells was detected by TUNEL technique, fluorescence intensity of rhodamine 123 and size of mitochondria by flow cytometry, and expression of AIF by immunohistochemical analysis. Results    Compared with the tacrolimus group and the control group, the number of apoptotic cells and expression of AIF in the epilepsy group were higher and the mitochondrial membrane potential was increased(P＜0.05)，and the cerebral protection group and the control group had no significant difference(P＞0.05).Conclusion    FK506 plays an important role in neuro-protection by reducing neuronal apoptosis and inhibiting MMP changes.

Key words:  Epilepsy; Tacrolimus(FK506); Apoptosis; Membrane potentials; Apoptosisinducing factor