Influence of carvedilol on anticonvulsant effect of gabapentin.

The present study was performed to investigate whether or not carvedilol (a beta-adrenoreceptor antagonist) potentiates the anticonvulsive activity of gabapentin against ICES (Increasing current electroshock) and PTZ (Pentylenetetrazole) induced seizures in mice. Further the effect of combination of both the drugs on spatial working memory and locomotor activity on rotarod was also evaluated. The biochemical estimation was done by measuring the lipid peroxidation and reduced glutathione in brain tissue. The results indicate that carvedilol significantly potentiates the anticonvulsive activity of gabapentin in both the models of epilepsy. The combination of both the drugs has no effect on spatial working memory and locomotor activity. In addition carvedilol in combination with gabapentin significantly decreased the level of the lipid peroxidation and increased the level of reduced glutathione (GSH) in brain. So, the present study showed that carvedilol potentiates the anticonvulsive activity of gabapentin, which can be useful for the treatment of epilepsy in patients with hypertension.