sodium valproate mitigates hippocampal structural and functional alterations following middle cerebral artery occlusion in a rat model

Introduction: sodium valproate (vpa) is widely used to treat neurological disorders. this study aimed to investigate the spatial arrangement and three-dimensional structure of the hippocampal ca1 region, as well as the biochemical changes in the brains of ischemic rats. methods: thirty male rats were randomly assigned to three groups: sham, middle cerebral artery occlusion (mcao), and mcao + vpa. the right common carotid artery was ligated for one h. on days 0–3 of reperfusion, animals received intraperitoneal (ip) injections of vpa (300 mg/kg). one week after mcao, the brains (ischemic hemisphere) of five animals were removed and fixed for structural (stereological) studies. in addition, the ischemic hemispheres of five other rats were removed for malondialdehyde (mda) assay. results: our data demonstrated that vpa significantly restored the hippocampal spatial arrangement of pyramidal neurons, reduced three-dimensional deformation, and decreased the total number of dead neurons and mda levels induced by mcao. conclusion: this study indicates that reduced neuronal loss in the ca1 region, along with improvements in spatial cell arrangement and three-dimensional structure, may be correlated with reduced levels of oxidative stress. these structural alterations may contribute to the behavioral effects previously reported, including those in our earlier studies.