Investigation of the Effects of Satureja edmondi on Memory Impairment Caused by Chemical Kindling in Adult Male Rats

Introduction: Epilepsy causes neuronal damage that disturbs normal brain functioning, especially in the hippocampal formation. In addition, it has been shown that cognitive inconsistencies, changes in emotional behavior, and neuronal loss in the hippocampus occur during pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)- induced kindling. So, the purpose of the present research was to investigate whether administration of Satureja edmoni is able to prevent memory impairment, caused by PTZ-induced kindling in adult male rats. 
Materials and Methods: In this study, male rats were kindled by repeated (two or three) injection of PTZ intraperitoneally (i.p.) (25 mg/kg); then all animals in the extract groups were treated with 100, 200, or 400 mg/kg of S. edmondi. For behavior assessment, an inhibitory passive avoidance task was used. 
Results: Our results showed that animals in the kindled group took less time to enter dim hutch than control rats. There was a significant difference in step-through latency (STL) recorded from group of rats with PTZ-induced kindling treated with S. edmondi at concentrations 100 and 200 mg/kg and control rats, but differences between STL of PTZ-induced kindling animals treated with S. edmondi 400 mg/kg vs. control rats were not significant. 
Conclusion: In this study, we observed that PTZ induced impairing effects on passive avoidance memory; in contrast, administration of S. edmondi could abolish the impairment effect of epilepsy on memory.