BACKGROUND: Ifenprodil as a specific antagonist of NMDA receptors containing a dominant NR2B subunit exhibits age-dependent anticonvulsant action. Possible changes of this action due to status epilepticus (SE) elicited at early stage of development were studied using cortical epileptic afterdischarges (ADs) as a model. METHODS: Lithium-pilocarpine SE was induced at postnatal day 12 and effects of ifenprodil were studied 3, 6, 9, and 13 days after SE in rat pups with implanted epidural electrodes. Controls (LiPAR) received saline instead of pilocarpine. ADs were elicited by low frequency stimulation of sensorimotor cortex. Intensity of stimulation current increased in 18 steps from 0.2 to 15 mA. Ifenprodil (20 mg/kg) was administered intraperitoneally (ip) after the stimulation with 3.5-mA current. Threshold for four different phenomena as well as duration of ADs were evaluated. RESULTS: The threshold for the transition into the limbic type of ADs was higher in 15-day-old SE rats than in LiPAR controls. Opposite difference was found in 18-day-old animals, older rats did not exhibit any difference. Isolated significant changes in total duration of ADs were found after high stimulation intensities. These changes appeared in 18-day-old rats where ADs were shorter in SE than in control LiPAR rats. CONCLUSIONS: Changes in ifenprodil action were found only in the first week after SE but not in the second week. Interpretation of the results is complicated by failure of significant differences between SE and LiPAR rats probably due to a high dose of paraldehyde.

Department of Developmental Epileptology Institute of Physiology Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Prague Czech Republic

Faculty of Biology Moscow State University Moscow Russia

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