Regular exercise and clonidine have been shown to affect epilepsy. After 6 weeks of training involving swimming, the total body weight of trained mice was significantly lower than that of sedentary mice. Further, the blood lactate concentrations of th...
Regular exercise and clonidine have been shown to affect epilepsy. After 6 weeks of training involving swimming, the total body weight of trained mice was significantly lower than that of sedentary mice. Further, the blood lactate concentrations of these mice were statistically more stable than those of sedentary mice. These results indicate that the training program increased aerobic resistance in mice. Systemic kainic acid (KA) injection (30 mg/kg) evoked seizure activity in mice within 10 min. Further, clonidine (α2-adrenoreceptor agonist, 4 mg/kg) was injected 30 min before KA. Both the clonidine-treated group and exercised group experienced decreased seizure activity 10 min after KA injection and maintained seizure activity rating scores of 3-3.5 for 2 h afterwards. To examine whether or not clonidine and exercise had synergistic effects, we exercised animals and then treated with clonidine 30 min before KA administration. The clonidine and exercise group experienced decreases in seizure activity by 2 rating scores, and the regimen did not lead to death. Further, the clonidine and exercise group experienced decreased rates of mortality as well as motor impairment. These results suggest that the combination of regular exercise and therapy with an anticonvulsant agent such as clonidine could be a more efficient method for the prevention and/or treatment of epilepsy than exercise alone.