Gamma-Decanolactone Improves Biochemical Parameters Associated with Pilocarpine-Induced Seizures in Male Mice

Gamma-decanolactone (GD) is a monoterpene effective against seizures induced by pentylenetetrazole. The mechanism of action of GD is likely to be via glutamate antagonism. GD also inhibits intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and the lipopolysaccharide-induced expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in vitro. Considering the neuropharmacological profile of GD studied so far, we investigated the effect of intraperitoneal administration of GD 100 and 300 mg/kg on pilocarpine (PIL)-induced status epilepticus (SE) in mice.

GD was administered 30 min before PIL. Behavioral (latency to first seizure and the percentage of clonic forelimb seizures), biochemical, and oxidative stress parameters were evaluated. DNA damage in the cerebral cortex of mice was assessed using the comet assay and mutagenic activity of GD was evaluated using Salmonella/microsome assay in TA100, TA98, TA97a, TA102, and TA1535 strains, with and without metabolic activation (S9 mix).

The behavioral results showed that only the latency to the first clonic seizure increased in the groups treated with GD 300 mg/kg, but not when the animals received GD 100 mg/kg. Both GD doses were able to increase superoxide dismutase and catalase activities, inducing a decrease in ROS and nitrite production and in DNA damage in the cerebral cortex. GD was not able to induce base pair substitution and frameshift mutations in the absence or in the presence of metabolic activation.

These findings demonstrate that GD does not improve behavioral parameters in the PIL model, but it was able to protect seizure-related oxidative stress and DNA damage in mice, without inducing gene mutations.