Abstract
Naturally occurring benzodiazepines have been identified in regular food such as wheat
and potato, but there is still no evidence that potato extracts can affect CNS responses
in vivo. Here we found that undiluted potato juice and potato juice diluted with saline 1
: 2 administered 10 min intracisternally (i. c.) and 30 min per os before bicuculline exerted significant anticonvulsant activity in the bicuculline-induced
seizure threshold test in mice. In vitro, potato juice from different harvests at dilution series from 10 % to 0.000001 %,
diluted 100,000-fold, displaced 50 % of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor ligand
[3H]GABA and diluted 40-fold displaced 50 % of [3H]flunitrazepam from binding sites in mice forebrain membranes. The low content of
diazepam (0.04 ± 0.01 mg/kg) determined by HPLC and mass spectrometry in the potato
extracts could not sustain the anticonvulsant activity of potato juice in vivo; therefore we hypothesized that potato juice might contain GABAA receptor GABA-site active compounds. The findings of this study suggest that potato
juice as well as potato taken as food may have the capacity of influencing brain GABA-ergic
activity.
Key words
Solanum tuberosum L. - Solanaceae - potato - benzodiazepine - GABA receptors - radioligand receptor
binding - bicuculline seizures
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Prof. Dr. Ruta Muceniece
University of Latvia
Faculty of Medicine
Sarlotes Str.1a
LV-1001 Riga
Latvia
Phone: +3717362499
Fax: +371-738-8306
Email: Ruta.Muceniece@lu.lv
