title: Epileptic phenomena produced by kainic acid in laboratory rats during ontogenesis.
abstract: Because of its preferential neuroexcitatory effects on the hippocampal neurones kainic acid (KA) is used for inducing partial seizures with a complex symptomatology. In this study the authors investigated the effect of intraperitoneal administration of KA, in doses of 2-16 mg/kg, on the laboratory rat during ontogenesis. The experimental animals were males aged 7, 12, 18, 25 and 90 days. The first signs of an effect in adult rats were automatisms; in young animals, jerks also appeared. The most important automatisms were wet dog shakes, which preponderated in 25-day-old and older animals, whereas in the young rats they consisted chiefly of intensive scratching. Minimal seizures with a motor pattern identical to minimal metrazol seizures were observed in all the age groups and so were generalized tonic-clonic convulsions, which appeared after large doses of KA. The systemic administration of KA is a convenient model of temporal seizures and their progressive generalization and could act as a model for testing broad spectrum antiepileptics.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physiology, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Prague.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Velísková
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Velísek
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mares
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007608:Kainic Acid; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
chemical_list: D007608:Kainic Acid