Effects of levetiracetam on neuroprotection and oxidative stress in neonatal rats with hypoxic-ischemic brain damage

Objective To study the neuroprotective effect of levetiracetam (LEV) with hypoxia ischemia brain-damage (HIBD) model of neonatal rats. Methods The rats were randomly divided into three groups: model group, LEV low, medium and high concentration groups [gavage with 10, 30, 50 mg/(kg·d) LEV], with 10 rats in each, and another 10 rats in sham operation group. Twenty four hours after the last administration, HE staining was used to observe the pathological changes of rat brain, TUNEL method was used to detect the apoptosis of neurons, the expression of inflammatory factors interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor α(TNF-α), and oxidative stress factors malondialdehyde(MDA), the content and activity of superoxide dismutas (SOD) in serum were detected by ELISA, and the protein expression of caspase-3, B-cell lymphoma-2(Bcl-2), nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2(Nrf2), heme oxygenase(HO-1) in rat brain tissue were detected by Western blot. Results Compared with the sham operation group, the morphology of brain tissue cell in the model group were disordered, showed diffuse distribution, increased vacuolation and inflammatory infiltration, the apoptosis rate of neurons, the expression of IL-6, TNF-α, MDA in serum and caspase-3 in brain tissue were significantly higher(P＜0.05), and the expression of SOD in serum, Bcl-2, Nrf2 and HO-1 in brain tissue were significantly lower(P＜0.05); Compared with the model group, the above changes of LEV in low, medium and high concentration groups were significantly reduced(P＜0.05). Conclusions LEV can alleviate inflammatory reaction and oxidative stress, and play a neuroprotective role in HIBD newborn rats.