title: Kainate, a double agent that generates seizures: two decades of progress.
abstract: Studies using kainate, an excitatory amino acid extracted from a seaweed, have provided major contributions to the understanding of epileptogenesis. Here we review pioneering and more recent studies aimed at determining how kainate generates seizures and, in particular, how inhibition is altered during seizures. We focus on target and subunit-specific effects of kainate on hippocampal pyramidal neurons and interneurons that lead to an excitation of both types of neurons and thus to the parallel increase of glutamatergic and GABAergic spontaneous currents. We propose that kainate excites all its targets, the net consequence depending on the level of activity of the network.
authors.affiliation: The INMED, INSERM U29, Parc scientifique de Luminy, BP 13, 13273, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ben-Ari
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cossart
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000139:chemically induced; D018690:Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D007608:Kainic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology; D009433:Neural Inhibition; D017729:Presynaptic Terminals / Q000378:metabolism; D017966:Pyramidal Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D018092:Kainic Acid Receptors; D012640:Seizures / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D000097806:GluK2 Kainate Receptor
chemical_list: D018690:Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D007608:Kainic Acid; D018092:Kainic Acid Receptors; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid; D000097806:GluK2 Kainate Receptor