ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Epilepsy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1587200
This article is part of the Research TopicExploring the complexities of the human nervous system through advanced brain imaging and stimulationView all 4 articles
Effect of Visual Stimulation on Epilepsy Susceptibility in Neonatal Hypoglycemic Brain Injury Rats During Development
Provisionally accepted
- The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
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Objective: To investigate the effect of visual stimulation on epilepsy susceptibility in neonatal hypoglycemic brain injury (HBIN) rats and its underlying mechanisms. Methods: Seventy-five 2-day-old Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three groups: control (N, N=25), model (NH, N=25), and visual stimulation (NH-V, N=25). The NH and NH-V groups were injected with insulin (40 U/kg) on postnatal days 2, 4, and 6, and blood glucose was monitored. The NH-V group received daily 2-hour visual stimulation from P14 to P28. At P21, brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) was performed. Pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) was injected to induce seizures and recorded at P28. Brain tissue was analyzed for Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) and Synaptophysin (SYN) expression. Results: (i) In the NH and NH-V groups, blood glucose decreased after insulin injection, with behavioral changes observed at 1-4 hours. One rat in the NH group had spontaneous seizures. (ii) MRI at 15 days showed occipital lobe abnormalities in 50% of NH rats, with no changes in controls. (iii) In PTZ-induced seizures, the N group had significantly lower seizure scores than the NH group, with the NH-V group showing further reduction. (iv) BDNF and SYN expression were higher in the NH-V group compared to the NH group. Conclusion: Visual stimulation reduces epilepsy susceptibility in neonatal HBIN rats, likely through upregulation of BDNF and SYN expression in the occipital cortex.
Keywords: visual stimulation, neonatal hypoglycemic brain injury, Epilepsy susceptibility, BDNF, SYN
Received: 04 Mar 2025; Accepted: 28 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sun, Li, Dong, Zhang, Gan and Jia. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Tianming Jia, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
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