The change of Cannabinoid receptor 2 expression in childhood rat with epilepsy

Objective To investigate the changes of cannabinoid 2 receptor(CB2R) expression at different time after epileptic status in epileptic childhood rats. Methods Healthy male SD rats (18-21 days old) were randomly divided into two groups: control group and epileptic model group.CB2R concentration in hippocampus of rats were tested at 2 h, 24 h, 14 d, 21 d after entering the status epilepticus(status epilepsy, SE) by immunohistochemistry, PCR, Western blot. Results In control group, CB2R content of the hippocampus brain gradually increased with age increasing.When the rats with the age of 35-42 days, CB2R content gradually got stabilized.After status epilepticus for 2 h-14 d, CB2R content of hippocampus in epileptic model group was more than that in the control group.At the point of 21 d, CB2R content of hippocampus in the control group was more than that in epileptic model group.CB2R mRNA of epileptic model group at 2 hours point was more than that of control group (2.062 vs 1.878, P 0.05). Conclusion CB2R presents high expression in childhood rat hippocampus suffering from status epilepticus, reaches a peak following with prolonged seizures, then gradually decreased. Key words: Epilepsy; Cannabinoid recptor 2; Status epilepsy