Effect Of Human Intractable Epilepsy On Small Guanosine Triphospatase RhoA And Rho-Associated Kinase Expression

Small Guanosine Triphospatase RhoA is activited in pathogenesis of epilepsy has been identified in animal experiments recently. This study aimed to further investigate the potential effects of RhoA/ROCK signal pathway in human epilepsy. Brain tissue samples from 40 patients with intractable epilepsy were used to measure RhoA, ROCKâ… and ROCKâ…¡protein expression using immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence and western blot, and the results were compared with 14 controls with histological normal temporal lobe tissue samples. Immunohistochemical staining demonstrated that RhoA, ROCKâ… protein expression was significantly increased in the patient temporal lobe ,however, the protein expression of ROCKâ…¡was shown decreased compared with controls( P < 0.05), and immunofluorescence microscopy showed accumulation of RhoA and RhoA-Associated Kinase (ROCKâ… , ROCKâ…¡) in the cell membrane and cytoplasm of nerve cells in the temporal lobe and hippocampus. These findings were confirmed by western blotting in the brain tissure of patients. Elevated expression of RhoA, ROCKâ… ;decreased expression of ROCKâ…¡showed that in the temporal lobe and hippocampus of patients. This finding suggests that RhoA/ROCK pathway may play a role in the development of epileptic seizures in patients with disfunction of signaling modulators.