Abstract: Objective To observe the effect of pentylenetetrazole(PTZ)-kindled epliepsy on rat's learning and memory and the expression of calmodulin dependent protein kinaseⅡ(CaMKⅡ)in hippocampal neurons. Methods The rats were injected intraperitoneally with PTZ to establish the kindled models. The changes of behavior were evaluated through Morris water maze and the expression of α-CaMKⅡ in hippocampal neurons was observed by immunohistochemistry technique. Results The Morris water maze test showed that the escape latency and the swimming distance in PTZ-kindled rats increased significantly (P<0.05). The number of platform crossings and the percentage of swimming time in platform quadrant in PTZ-kindled rats decreased obviously (P<0.05), and the efficiency of their search strategy was poor. It showed that the ability of learning and memory in PTZ-kindled epliepsy rats was obviously impaired, and the expression of α-CaMKⅡ in hippocampal CA1 and CA3 sector significantly decreased (P<0.05). Conclusions The impaired ability of learning and memory in the PTZ-kindled epliepsy rats might be associated with decreased expression of CaMKⅡ in hippocampal CA1 and CA3 sector.

Key words: epilepsy, pentylenetetrazole, hippocmppus, learning and memory, calmodulin dependent protein kinaseⅡ