Anticonvulsant Effect of Pitavastatin in Mice Induced by Pentylenetetrazole

Problem statement: The 3-Hydroxy-3-Methylglutaryl-CoA (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors (statins) have been unequivocally shown to reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality by their lipid-lowering actions. It has been suggested that statins appear to have therapeutic benefits in diseases that are unrelated to elevated serum cholesterol levels. The aim of this study was to evaluation the effect of intraperitoneally injection of different doses of pitavastatin on PTZ-induced seizure threshold in mice. Approach: Mice were divided into 9 groups randomly: the first group received saline normal (ip) (control group); the second group received Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) 0.5% (ip) (vehicle group) and the next groups received respectively different doses of pitavastatin (1, 5, 10, 20, 40, 80 and 100 mg kg daily^-1) for 4 days (ip) before determination of seizure threshold induced by PTZ. Results: Results showed that PTZ-induced seizure threshold in control mice was 35.48±1.39 mg kg^-1. Intraperitoneal injection of pitavastatin showed significant (p<0.05) increase of PTZ-induced seizure threshold in a dose dependently manner. Conclusion: According to our results, pitavastatin has anticonvulsant effects on mice. Nevertheless, new studies must be carried out in order to determine the beneficial effects of statins in treatment of epilepsy.