title: Amygdala kindling of forebrain seizures and the occurrence of brainstem seizures in genetically epilepsy-prone rats.
abstract: Forebrain seizures were kindled in rats by daily electrical stimulation of the amygdala. Genetically epilepsy-prone rats scoring 9 (GEPR-9s) on the seizure severity scale during audiogenic seizure (AGS) screening ("brainstem seizure-experienced") required fewer stimulations to achieve fully kindled seizures (forelimb clonus with rearing and falling) than control rats. AGS-naive GEPR-9s required an intermediate number of stimulations, indicating a role for both genetic predisposition and previous acoustically evoked brainstem seizure experience. Other forebrain kindling indices such as afterdischarge threshold/duration and seizure latency/duration also involved genetic as well as phenotypic (previous seizure experience) factors. In most GEPR-9s in both groups, severe brainstem seizures occurred after forebrain stimulation. The occurrence of brainstem seizures had a random nature and was not related to the sequence of kindling-dependent forebrain seizure progression. The lack of a difference in the occurrence of brainstem seizures between seizure-experienced and AGS-naive GEPR-9s suggest that genetic predisposition is the major factor in forebrain seizure-induced activation of brainstem seizure circuitry. This brainstem seizure activity appears to model pertinent aspects of secondary generalization observed in human partial seizures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical and Therapeutic Sciences (Formerly Basic Sciences), University of Illinois College of Medicine, Peoria 61656, USA.
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Coffey
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Reith
authors.forename: N H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Mishra
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Jobe
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000679:Amygdala / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007696:Kindling, Neurologic / Q000502:physiology*; D016548:Prosencephalon / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012640:Seizures / Q000235:genetics