Dantrolene paradoxically exacerbates short-term brain glucose hypometabolism, hippocampal damage and neuroinflammation induced by status epilepticus in the rat lithium-pilocarpine model

Status epilepticus (SE) is a neurologic emergency characterized by prolonged or rapidly recurring seizures. Increased intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca²⁺]_i) occurring after SE is a key mediator of excitotoxicity that contributes to the brain damage associated with the development of epilepsy. Accumulated evidence indicates that dantrolene, a ryanodine receptor (RyR) blocker may have protective effects against the SE-induced damage. We evaluated whether dantrolene (10 mg/kg, i.p.) administered twice, 5 min and 24 h after the lithium-pilocarpine-induced SE in rats, had neuroprotective effects. Dantrolene by itself had no effects on control rats. However, it exacerbated the signs of damage in rats that underwent SE, increasing brain glucose hypometabolism as measured by PET neuroimaging 3 days after SE. Likewise, the neurohistochemical studies revealed that dantrolene aggravated signs of hippocampal neurodegeneration, neuronal death and microglia-induced neuroinflammation. Besides, the damaging effects were reflected by severe body weight loss. Overall, our results point towards a deleterious effect of dantrolene in the lithium-pilocarpine-induced SE model. Nonetheless, our results are in opposition to the reported neuroprotective effects of dantrolene. Whether the mechanisms underlying [Ca²⁺]_i increase might significantly differ depending on the particularities of the model of epilepsy used and general experimental conditions need further studies. Besides, it is yet to be determined which isoform of RyRs significantly contributes to Ca²⁺-induced excitotoxicity in the lithium-pilocarpine SE rat model.