Abstract
The primary active component of black pepper is piperine, which is purified and used to treat epilepsy, achieving higher efficiency when purified. The present study was conducted to evaluate whether the anticonvulsant effect of piperine ameliorates pilocarpine-induced epilepsy, and to investigate the mechanism underlying these effects. Epilepsy was induced in Sprague Dawley rats using pilocarpine. Pilocarpine-induced epilepsy in the rats was treated with 40 mg/kg piperine for 45 consecutive days. Status epilepticus and a Morris water maze test were used to analyze the anticonvulsant effects of piperine in the epileptic rats. Inflammation and oxidative stress were then measured using commercially-available kits following piperine treatment. Lastly, the activity of caspase-3 and the protein expression levels of B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) and Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax) were evaluated using commercially-available kits and western blot analysis, respectively. The results demonstrated that treatment with piperine was able to reduce the status epilepticus and prevented memory impairment following pilocarpine-induced epilepsy in rats. The anticonvulsant effects of piperine decreased inflammation and oxidative stress following pilocarpine-induced epilepsy in rats. The upregulated activity of caspase-3 and expression levels of Bax/Bcl-2 were suppressed following treatment with piperine in the rats with pilocarpine-induced epilepsy. These results suggest that the anticonvulsant effects of piperine ameliorate memory impairment, inflammation and oxidative stress in a rat model of pilocarpine-induced epilepsy.