The pilocarpine model of epilepsy.
The systemic administration of a potent muscarinic agonist pilocarpine in rats promotes sequential behavioural and electrographic changes that can be divided in three distinct periods: (a) an acute period that built up progressively into a limbic status epilepticus and that lasts 24 h, (b) a silent period with a progressive normalization of EEG and behaviour which varies from 4 to 44 days, and (c) a chronic period with spontaneous recurrent seizures (SRSs). The main features of the SRSs observed during the long-term period resemble those of human complex partial seizures and recurs 2-3 times per week per animal. Therefore, this novel and unique experimental approach may serve as a model of epilepsy mimicking the human condition.
Cavalheiro
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EA
Neurologia Experimental, Escola Paulista de Medicina, São Paulo, Brasil.
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000187:drug effects*; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000139:chemically induced*; D010862:Pilocarpine; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013226:Status Epilepticus
D010862:Pilocarpine