The efficacy of gastrodin in combination with folate and vitamin B12 on patients with epilepsy after stroke and its effect on HMGB-1, IL-2 and IL-6 serum levels

Gastrodin: a comprehensive pharmacological review

Tianma is the dried tuber of Gastrodia elata Blume (G. elata), which is frequently utilized in clinical practice as a traditional Chinese medicine. Gastrodin (GAS) is the main active ingredient of Tianma, which has good pharmacological activity. Therefore, for the first time, this review focused on the extraction, synthesis, pharmacological effects, and derivatives of GAS and to investigate additional development options for GAS. The use of microorganisms to create GAS is a promising method. GAS has good efficacy in the treatment of neurological diseases, cardiovascular diseases, endocrine diseases, and liver diseases. GAS has significant anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, neuroprotective, vascular protective, blood sugar lowering, lipid-regulating, analgesic, anticancer, and antiviral effects. The mechanism involves various signaling pathways such as Nrf2, NF-κB, PI3K/AKT, and AMPK. In addition, the derivatives of GAS and biomaterials synthesized by GAS and PU suggested a broader application of GAS. The research on GAS is thoroughly summarized in this paper, which has useful applications for tackling a variety of disorders and exhibits good development value.

Interleukins in Epilepsy: Friend or Foe

Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder with recurrent unprovoked seizures, affecting ~ 65 million worldwide. Evidence in patients with epilepsy and animal models suggests a contribution of neuroinflammation to epileptogenesis and the development of epilepsy. Interleukins (ILs), as one of the major contributors to neuroinflammation, are intensively studied for their association and modulatory effects on ictogenesis and epileptogenesis. ILs are commonly divided into pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines and therefore are expected to be pathogenic or neuroprotective in epilepsy. However, both protective and destructive effects have been reported for many ILs. This may be due to the complex nature of ILs, and also possibly due to the different disease courses that those ILs are involved in. In this review, we summarize the contributions of different ILs in those processes and provide a current overview of recent research advances, as well as preclinical and clinical studies targeting ILs in the treatment of epilepsy.

Review on pharmacological effects of gastrodin

Gastrodia elata Blume is a well-known traditional Chinese medicine that is mainly used to treat diseases related to the nervous system, such as stroke, epilepsy, and headache. Gastrodin is the main bioactive component of Gastrodia elata Blume, and studies have shown that it has extensive pharmacological activity. This narrative review aims to systematically review relevant studies on the pharmacological effects of gastrodin to provide researchers with the latest and most useful information. Studies have shown that gastrodin has prominent neuroprotective effects and can treat or improve epilepsy, Tourette syndrome, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, emotional disorders, cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury, cognitive impairment, and neuropathic pain. Gastrodin can also improve myocardial hypertrophy, hypertension, and myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. In addition, gastrodin can mitigate liver, kidney, and bone tissue damage caused by oxidative stress and inflammation. In short, gastrodin is expected to treat many diseases, and it is worth investing more effort in research on this compound.

Complementary and alternative medicine for treating epilepsy in China: A systematic review

There are about 10 million people with epilepsy (PWE) in China. In addition to therapies approved by the National Medical Products Administration, the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is prevalent in Chines PWE. These CAM therapies mainly comprise traditional Chinese medicine herbs (TCMHs), acupuncture, and music. A retrospective literature search was performed to summarize the updates of CAM in China in the past ten years, and sixty-two papers were finally included. In this following review, we listed the animal and clinical studies to summarize the antiepileptic mechanisms and clinical efficacy of CAM in Chines PWE. The main mechanisms of TCMHs and acupuncture included regulation of neurotransmitters and receptors, voltage-gated ion channels modulation, expression of apoptosis-related genes, antioxidant response, and anti-inflammation. Although there were enormous clinical studies on them, the current available clinical trials were small, short-term, heterogeneous, and had a high risk of bias. With regard to music, a few studies conducted by Chinese scholars suggested that it was beneficial for PWE as an add-on therapy, which was consistent with the results of foreign studies. Further randomized clinical trials in large populations are required to prove the effectiveness and safety of CAM.

The Impacts of Surgery and Intracerebral Electrodes in C57BL/6J Mouse Kainate Model of Epileptogenesis: Seizure Threshold, Proteomics, and Cytokine Profiles

Intracranial electroencephalography (EEG) is commonly used to study epileptogenesis and epilepsy in experimental models. Chronic gliosis and neurodegeneration at the injury site are known to be associated with surgically implanted electrodes in both humans and experimental models. Currently, however, there are no reports on the impact of intracerebral electrodes on proteins in the hippocampus and proinflammatory cytokines in the cerebral cortex and plasma in experimental models. We used an unbiased, label-free proteomics approach to identify the altered proteins in the hippocampus, and multiplex assay for cytokines in the cerebral cortex and plasma of C57BL/6J mice following bilateral surgical implantation of electrodes into the cerebral hemispheres. Seven days following surgery, a repeated low dose kainate (KA) regimen was followed to induce status epilepticus (SE). Surgical implantation of electrodes reduced the amount of KA necessary to induce SE by 50%, compared with mice without surgery. Tissues were harvested 7 days post-SE (i.e., 14 days post-surgery) and compared with vehicle-treated mice. Proteomic profiling showed more proteins (103, 6.8% of all proteins identified) with significantly changed expression (p < 0.01) driven by surgery than by KA treatment itself without surgery (27, 1.8% of all proteins identified). Further, electrode implantation approximately doubled the number of KA-induced changes in protein expression (55, 3.6% of all identified proteins). Further analysis revealed that intracerebral electrodes and KA altered the expression of proteins associated with epileptogenesis such as inflammation (C1q system), neurodegeneration (cystatin-C, galectin-1, cathepsin B, heat-shock protein 25), blood–brain barrier dysfunction (fibrinogen-α, serum albumin, α2 macroglobulin), and gliosis (vimentin, GFAP, filamin-A). The multiplex assay revealed a significant increase in key cytokines such as TNFα, IL-1β, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, IL12p70, IFN-γ, and KC/GRO in the cerebral cortex and some in the plasma in the surgery group. Overall, these findings demonstrate that surgical implantation of depth electrodes alters some of the molecules that may have a role in epileptogenesis in experimental models.

MicroRNA Dysregulation in Epilepsy: From Pathogenetic Involvement to Diagnostic Biomarker and Therapeutic Agent Development

Epilepsy is the result of a group of transient abnormalities in brain function caused by an abnormal, highly synchronized discharge of brain neurons. MicroRNA (miRNA) is a class of endogenous non-coding single-stranded RNA molecules that participate in a series of important biological processes. Recent studies demonstrated that miRNAs are involved in a variety of central nervous system diseases, including epilepsy. Although the exact mechanism underlying the role of miRNAs in epilepsy pathogenesis is still unclear, these miRNAs may be involved in the inflammatory response in the nervous system, neuronal necrosis and apoptosis, dendritic growth, synaptic remodeling, glial cell proliferation, epileptic circuit formation, impairment of neurotransmitter and receptor function, and other processes. Here, we discuss miRNA metabolism and the roles of miRNA in epilepsy pathogenesis and evaluate miRNA as a potential new biomarker for the diagnosis of epilepsy, which enhances our understanding of disease processes.