title: Sexual differentiation of cortical spreading depression propagation after acute and kindled audiogenic seizures in the Wistar audiogenic rat (WAR).
abstract: Brain excitability diseases like epilepsy constitute one factor that influences brain electrophysiological features. Cortical spreading depression (CSD) is a phenomenon that can be altered by changes in brain excitability. CSD propagation was presently characterized in adult male and female rats from a normal Wistar strain and from a genetically audiogenic seizure-prone strain, the Wistar audiogenic rat (WAR), both previously submitted (RAS(+)), or not (RAS(-)), to repetitive acoustic stimulation, to provoke audiogenic kindling in the WAR-strain. A gender-specific change in CSD-propagation was found. Compared to seizure-resistant animals, in the RAS(-) condition, male and female WARs, respectively, presented CSD-propagation impairment and facilitation, characterized, respectively, by lower and higher propagation velocities (P<0.05). In contraposition, in the RAS(+) condition, male and female WARs displayed, respectively, higher and lower CSD-propagation rates, as compared to the corresponding controls. In some Wistar and WAR females, we determined estrous cycle status on the day of the CSD-recording as being either estrous or diestrous; no cycle-phase-related differences in CSD-propagation velocities were detected. In contrast to other epilepsy models, such as Status Epilepticus induced by pilocarpine, despite the CSD-velocity reduction, in no case was CSD propagation blocked in WARs. The results suggest a gender-related, estrous cycle-phase-independent modification in the CSD-susceptibility of WAR rats, both in the RAS(+) and RAS(-) situation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Lab of Physiology, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, PE, Brazil. rc.guedes@terra.com.br
authors.forename: Rubem Carlos Araújo
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Guedes
authors.forename: José Antônio Cortes
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: de Oliveira
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amâncio-Dos-Santos
authors.forename: Norberto
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: García-Cairasco
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000009:adverse effects; D000818:Animals; D013181:Cortical Spreading Depression / Q000502:physiology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D007696:Kindling, Neurologic / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012640:Seizures / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012733:Sex Differentiation