Abstract

Mitochondrial fission has been reported to be involved in oxidative stress, apoptosis and many neurological diseases. However, the role of mitochondrial fission in seizures, which could induce oxidative stress and neuronal loss, remains unknown. In this study, we used pilocarpine to elicit seizures in rats. Meanwhile, we used mitochondrial division inhibitor 1 (mdivi-1), a selective inhibitor of mitochondrial fission protein dynamin-related protein1 (Drp1), to suppress mitochondrial fission in epileptic model of rats in vivo. We found that mitochondrial fission was increased after seizures and inhibition of mitochondrial fission by mdivi-1 significantly attenuated the oxidative stress and reduced neuronal loss after seizures, shown by the decreased 8-hydroxy deoxyguanosine (8-oHdG) content, the increased superoxide dismutase SOD activity, the reduced expression of cytochrome c and caspase3 and the increased surviving neurons in hippocampus. These results indicated that mitochondrial fission is up-regulated after seizures and inhibition of mitochondrial fission is protective against neuronal injury in seizures, the underlying mechanism may be through the mitochondria/ROS/cytochrome c pathway.