Hippocampal afterdischarges in
rats. I. Effects of antiepileptics
L. VELÍŠEK, P. MAREŠ
Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech
Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
Received June 16, 2003
Accepted November 28, 2003
Summary
Hippocampal afterdischarges (ADs) are considered to be a model
of complex partial seizures. To study the pharmacology of these
ADs, stimulation electrodes were implanted into the dorsal
hippocampus of 33 male Wistar rats. Stimulation (15-s series of
monophasic rectangular pulses with a duration of 1 ms and
frequency of 8 Hz) was applied four
times with interstimulation intervals of 15 min. Drugs
(carbamazepine 50 and 100 mg/kg; clonazepam 0.2 and 0.5 mg/kg;
ethosuximide 125 and 250 mg/kg; phenobarbital 40 and 80 mg/kg)
as well as solvent and isotonic saline were injected
intraperitoneally 2 min after the cessation of the first AD.
Duration of AD, of the latent period between AD and recurrent AD
and duration of recurrent AD and the number of wet dog shakes
were measured. ADs were markedly shortened by both doses of
clonazepam and phenobarbital and by the higher dose of
carbamazepine. The action of ethosuximide was negligible. Wet
dog shakes were influenced in the same way as AD duration.
Recurrent ADs were more sensitive to antiepileptics than ADs and
wet dog shakes.
Key words
Rat • Hippocampus • Epileptic afterdischarge • Antiepileptics •
Wet dog shakes
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