Abstract
Objective: This study aimed to investigate the role of microRNA-132 in the epileptogenesis. Methods: Antagomir-132 (Ant-132) was used to silence the expression of miR-132 and non-targeting scrambled sequence (Scr) as a control. Rats were randomly divided into ant-132 group and Scr group in which rats were pretreated with An-132 and Scr, respectively, and then induced temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) by Li-Pilo. Behavioral observation was done, and results showed the changes in spontaneous recurrent seizures in the chronic phase between two groups. Bax and Bcl-2 were detected aiming to evaluate the neuronal apoptosis. NPY staining was done to investigate the mossy fiber sprouting (MFS). Golgi staining was used to assess the changes in the dendritic morphology. Results: Our study showed that ant-132 induced miR-132 silencing in rats could increase the on-set epilepsy threshold and suppress the numbers of spontaneous recurrent seizures. The number of apoptotic neurons and MFS reduced after miR-132 silencing. In addition, the dendrites of neurons were highly suppressed in the CA3 region of the hippocampus. Conclusions: miR-132 silencing suppresses the spontaneous seizures. The better outcome may result from the neuroprotective effect and the inhibition of MFs-CA3 pathway following miR-132 silencing. Thus, miR-132 may serve as a potential target for the development of anti-epileptic drugs.