Čes. slov. farm. 2023, 72(4):172-183 | DOI: 10.5817/CSF2023-4-172

Effect of digoxin, sodium valproate, and celecoxib on the cerebral cyclooxygenase pathway and neuron-specific enolase under the pentylenetetrazole-induced kindling in mice

Vadim Tsyvunin^1,*, Sergiy Shtrygol'², Mariia Mishchenko², Dmytro Lytkin³, Andriy Taran², Diana Shtrygol'⁴, Tatiana Gorbach⁵

¹ ORGANOSYN LTD, Kyiv, Ukraine

² Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy, National University of Pharmacy, Kharkiv, Ukraine

³ Educational and Scientific Institute of Applied Pharmacy, National University of Pharmacy, Kharkiv, Ukraine

⁴ Department of Clinical Neurology, Psychiatry, and Narcology, School of Medicine, V. N. Karazin, Kharkiv National University, Kharkiv, Ukraine

⁵ Department of Biological Chemistry, Kharkiv National Medical University, Kharkiv, Ukraine

Neuroinflammation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of epilepsy, so it is necessary to clarify the influence of standard antiepileptic drugs as well as adjuvant agents (e.g., cardiac glycoside digoxin, which previously showed a clear anticonvulsant potential) on cyclooxygenase pathway and neuron-specific enolase under the conditions of chronic epileptogenesis. The aim of the article is to determine the effect of digoxin, sodium valproate, and celecoxib per se, as well as the combination of digoxin with sodium valproate on the content of cyclooxygenase 1 and 2 types, prostaglandins E2, F2α, I2, thromboxane B2, 8-isoprostane and neuron-specific enolase in the brain of mice in the pentylenetetrazole-induced kindling model. It was found that only the combination of sodium valproate with digoxin provides a complete protective effect (absence of seizures) and shows the clearest influence on neuroinflammation markers and neuronal damage than monotherapy with each of these drugs and celecoxib, which appeared to be an ineffective anticonvulsant. The obtained results indicate that digoxin is a promising adjuvant drug to classical antiepileptic drugs (mostly sodium valproate) in epilepsy treatment.

Keywords: digoxin; neuron-specific enolase; valproate; cyclooxygenase; pentylenetetrazole-induced kindling; celecoxib

Grants and funding:

This work is a part of the scientific project "Rationale for improving the treatment of multidrug-resistant epilepsy through the combined use of classical anticonvulsant medicines with other drugs" (No. 0120U102460, 2020/2022) supported by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and carried out at the expense of the State Budget of Ukraine.

Received: October 10, 2022; Accepted: April 26, 2023; Published: April 1, 2023  Show citation