l-Theanine intake increases threshold for limbic seizures but decreases threshold for generalized seizures

Abstract

l-Theanine, an ethylamide derivate of glutamate found in abundance in green tea, has been shown to exert beneficial actions in animal models for several neurological disorders. We here investigated for the first time the effect of l-theanine intake on seizure susceptibility using acute pilocarpine and pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) mouse models for studying, respectively, limbic seizures or primarily generalized seizures. Moreover, we studied the effect of l-theanine intake on extracellular hippocampal and cortical glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels, using in vivo microdialysis. Feeding mice with a 4% l-theanine solution significantly decreased their susceptibility to pilocarpine-induced seizures whereas susceptibility to PTZ-induced seizures was increased. The latter effect was linked to decreased extracellular GABA concentrations in frontal cortex.

Keywords:

• l-Theanine
• Glutamate
• GABA
• Limbic seizures
• Generalized seizures

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by a grant of Brussels Capital Region (Innoviris-Prospective Research for Brussels). The authors are grateful to Z. Vandersteen and G. De Smet for technical assistance as well as Dr Cathy Jenssen for proofreading the manuscript.