title: Does seizure activity produce Purkinje cell loss?
abstract: Eight Wistar rats were exposed to 140 electroconvulsive seizures over 50 days. Ten rats served as controls. The density of Purkinje cells in cerebellum ranged from 15.3 to 18.5/mm in the treated rats and from 15.2 to 19.1/mm in the controls. No Purkinje cell loss was disclosed in the rats subjected to electroconvulsive seizures. Twenty-five Mongolian gerbils of the seizure-susceptible strain were selected according to seizure score with five animals in each group. Five Mongolian gerbils of a seizure-resistant strain served as controls. The density of the Purkinje cells ranged from 21.4 to 29.8/mm in the seizure-susceptible animals and from 27.6 to 31.5/mm in the controls, with a lower density in the gerbils with seizures compared with the controls (p less than 0.05). There was no relation to type or number of seizures. Eight gerbils of the seizure-susceptible strain were included as a supplementary group, to disclose any possible genetic trait as an explanation of the lower Purkinje cell density. The Purkinje cell density in these animals ranged from 24.8 to 30.9/mm and did not differ from the density in the seizure-resistant gerbils. Thus the lower density of Purkinje cells in the seizure-susceptible Mongolian gerbils is a result of seizure activity. The excessive epileptic input with stimulation of the glutamatergic innervation of the Purkinje cells resulting in a persistent elevated gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) tone may explain the damage to the Purkinje cells in the gerbils and the loss of Purkinje cells found in patients with severe epilepsy.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005849:Gerbillinae; D011689:Purkinje Cells / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains