Because of its preferential neuroexcitatory effects on the hippocampal neurones kainic acid (KA) is used for inducing partial seizures with a complex symptomatology. In this study the authors investigated the effect of intraperitoneal administration of KA, in doses of 2-16 mg/kg, on the laboratory rat during ontogenesis. The experimental animals were males aged 7, 12, 18, 25 and 90 days. The first signs of an effect in adult rats were automatisms; in young animals, jerks also appeared. The most important automatisms were wet dog shakes, which preponderated in 25-day-old and older animals, whereas in the young rats they consisted chiefly of intensive scratching. Minimal seizures with a motor pattern identical to minimal metrazol seizures were observed in all the age groups and so were generalized tonic-clonic convulsions, which appeared after large doses of KA. The systemic administration of KA is a convenient model of temporal seizures and their progressive generalization and could act as a model for testing broad spectrum antiepileptics.

Institute of Physiology Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences Prague

Seizures elicited by transcorneal 6 Hz stimulation in developing rats

Epilepsy Research in the Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague

Adenosine Kinase Isoforms in the Developing Rat Hippocampus after LiCl/Pilocarpine Status Epilepticus

Adenosine A1 Receptor Agonist 2-chloro-N6-cyclopentyladenosine and Hippocampal Excitability During Brain Development in Rats

Pentylenetetrazol-induced seizures in rats: an ontogenetic study