title: Hippocampal kindling leads to motor map expansion.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether seizure activity, repeatedly elicited in the hippocampus, could alter the functional organization of neocortical movement representations (motor maps) and whether a relation exists between the number of afterdischarges recorded in the sensorimotor neocortex and the size of the motor maps.
  
  
  METHODS
  We electrically kindled the right ventral hippocampus of Long-Evans hooded rats, twice daily, for 40 sessions and recorded the afterdischarges in the stimulated hippocampus and right sensorimotor neocortex. Between 3 and 7 days after the last seizure, we used high-resolution intracortical microstimulation to derive the forelimb-movement representations in the left (un-implanted) sensorimotor neocortex.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the hippocampal kindled rats, we observed a dramatic expansion of the area of neocortex that would elicit forelimb movements compared with sham-kindled controls. The number of afterdischarges recorded in the neocortex was significantly and positively correlated with the size of the motor maps.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Seizures propagating from the hippocampus have long-distance effects on the functional organization of motor maps.
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Neuroscience Research Group, Department of Psychology, and Calgary Epilepsy Program, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Francine
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: van Rooyen
authors.forename: Nicole A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: Sarah E M
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Larson
authors.forename: G Campbell
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Teskey
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004567:Electrodes, Implanted; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005552:Forelimb / Q000502:physiology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000503:physiopathology; D007696:Kindling, Neurologic / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008839:Microelectrodes; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D019579:Neocortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D012640:Seizures / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*