Topiramate treatment in Wistar rats during childhood induces sex-specific vascular dysfunction in adulthood

The present study determined whether treatment during childhood with topiramate (TPM), a new generation antiepileptic drug, results in altered aortic reactivity in adult male and female rats. We also sought to understand the role of endothelium-derived contractile factors in TPM-induced vascular dysfunction. Male and female Wistar rats were treated with TPM (41 mg/kg/day) or water (TPM vehicle) by gavage during childhood (postnatal day, 16–28). In adulthood, thoracic aorta reactivity to phenylephrine (phenyl), as well as aortic thickness and expression of cyclooxygenases (COX-1 and COX-2), NOX2, and p47phox were evaluated. The aortic response to phenyl was increased in male and female rats from the TPM group when compared with the control group. In TPM male rats, the hyperreactivity to phenyl was abrogated by the inhibition of NADPH oxidase and COX-2, while in female rats, responses were restored only by inhibition of COX-2. In addition, TPM male rats presented aortic hypertrophy and increased expression of NOX-2 and p47phox, while TPM female rats showed increased COX-2 aortic expression. Taken together, for the first-time, the present study provides evidence that treatment with TPM during childhood causes vascular dysfunction in adulthood, and that the mechanism underlying the vascular effects of TPM is sex-specific.