O papel do sistema purinérgico e da via de sinalização TOR em crises convulsivas e estresse oxidativo

Abstract

Epilepsy, characterized by the occurrence of spontaneous and recurrent seizures, is one of the main chronic neurological diseases, affecting around 1% of the world's population. Adenosine is an endogenous modulator of neuronal excitability and has anticonvulsant properties. Thus, the modulation of adenosinergic signalling pathway may presents important effects on epilepsy. In this study we characterize different aspects of the adenosinergic signaling in a model of seizures induced by pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) in zebrafish. In this study we also analyzed the effect of different modulators of adenosinergic signaling on controlling the development of seizures. Our results showed that the activation of type A1 adenosine receptors has an important role in controlling seizures in zebrafish. Furthermore, we observed that ecto-5´-nucleotidase and ADA enzymes, in addition to nucleoside transporters, are directly involved in controlling extracellular adenosine levels and, consequently, in controlling the development of seizures in this teleost. In addition, we clarified the occurrence of controversial data related to the mTOR signaling pathway in oxidative stress. Previous studies have suggested the activation of this pathway in oxidative stress based on the misinterpretation of the phosphorylation of RSK and MSK proteins through the antibody anti-phospho-Thr389-S6K, in addition to protein S6 phosphorylation, regulated by the MAPK signaling pathway in this case. Therefore, these findings might contribute for a better understanding about the signaling pathways involved in the mechanisms of seizure control and represents na alternative for the development of antiepileptic drugs, increasing the therapeutic options in epilepsia. Our results may also contribute to future studies on the characterization and modulation of TOR signaling pathway in zebrafish.