Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common form of drug resistant epilepsy. Current treatment is symptomatic, suppressing seizures, but has no disease modifying effect on epileptogenesis. We examined the effects of Z944, a potent T-type calcium channel antagonist, as an anti-seizure agent and against the progression of kindling in the amygdala kindling model of TLE. The anti-seizure effica...

The claustrum has been implicated in the kindling of generalized seizures from limbic sites. We examined the susceptibility of the anterior claustrum itself to kindling and correlated this with an anatomical investigation of its afferent and efferent connections. Electrical stimulation of the anterior claustrum resulted in a pattern of rapid kindling with two distinct phases. Early kindling inv...

  Background: Vitex agnus - castus extract (Vitex) is available in dosage forms for female disorders treatment. This extract has shown controversial effects against seizures induced by Maximal electroshock (MES) or pentylenetetrazole (PTZ).   Objective: In the present study the anti-seizure activity of Vitex against acquisition of amygdala kindling was evaluated in male rats.   Methods: Intact ...

Introduction: Considering the antiepileptogenic effects of repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), the effect of rTMS applied during amygdala kindling on spontaneous activity of hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons was investigated. Materials and Methods: A tripolar electrode was inserted in basolateral amygdala of Male Wistar rats. After a recovery period, animals received daily kindli...

Amygdala kindling is commonly used to study the mechanisms involved in epileptogenesis, with long-term amygdala kindling providing a useful model of the behavioural disturbances— such as heightened anxiety— that can occur between epileptic seizures. The purpose of this thesis was to determine whether increased fear behaviours exhibited by long-term amygdala kindled rats are reflective of previo...

Introduction: Minocycline is a derivative of tetracycline that has anti-inflammatory, antiappoptic, antioxidant and neuroprotective effects. Since there is a relationship between cell death and seizure, the aim of this study was to examine the role of minocycline in development of amygdala kindling in Wistar rats. Methods: In this study, 21 rats were divided into three groups. After sterotax...

although the epileptogenic properties of estrogens have been widely demonstrated in several models and species, the mechanism(s) by which estrogens can acutely change seizure parameters including after discharge and seizure duration remain remains to be determined. in the present study, we examined the role of nmda (n-methyl-d-aspartate), non-nmda and estrogenic receptors in estradiol benzoate ...

Kindling is a permanent form of brain change that results from repeated elicitation of epileptiform neural activity. c-fos has been proposed as the gene responsible for turning on molecular events that might underlie the long-term neural changes that occur during kindling. This study investigated the enhancement of c-fos levels following kindled seizures and the role of c-fos in the plastic cha...

Female Wistar rats were implanted with electrodes in the right amygdala, and initial--pre-kindling--afterdischarge thresholds (ADT's) were determined 1, 2, 4, and 8 weeks after electrode implantation. Pre-kindling ADT's were highest 1 week after implantation, lower at 2 weeks, and lowest at 4 weeks. This drop in non-stimulated thresholds had largely disappeared by 8 weeks post-implantation. Hal...

Rats received kindling stimulations to the perirhinal cortex (PRh), ventral hippocampus (VH), or dorsal hippocampus (DH) in 1 environment and an equivalent number of sham stimulations in a 2nd environment. The PRh-kindled rats displayed rapid kindling and a swift emergence of conditioned interictal defensiveness. In contrast, the VH- and DH-kindled rats displayed much slower kindling and slow o...